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John F. Cryan is Professor & Chair, Dept. of Anatomy & Neuroscience, University College Cork. He received a B.Sc. (Hons) and PhD from the National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. He was a visiting fellow at the Dept Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Australia (1997-1998), which was followed by postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA and The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California. He spent four years at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Basel Switzerland, as a LabHead, Behavioural Pharmacology prior to joining UCC in 2005 where he was a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology in the School of Pharmacy and in the Dept. Pharmacology & Therapeutics UCC. Currently he is also a Principal Investigator in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (http://www.ucc.ie/research/apc/content). For more information on his body of research please go to: http://publish.ucc.ie/researchprofiles/C003/jcryan
In this episode Dr. Cryan and I discuss the routes of communication between the microbiota and the brain. We also discuss his research (along with research from other labs) about the affects of stress on the gut brain axis, how neurotransmitters are affected by the microbiota, and how the gut brain axis might affect pain. Dr.Cryan also gives his take on the OTC probiotics….and it might not be what you think!
Finally we discuss possible the therapeutic value of gut bacteria in the treatment of neurological diagnoses. This was a great interview and Dr. Cryan is a wealth of knowledge, so be sure to be ready to take notes!