Towards Advanced Microbiome Therapeutics 

 Prof. Morten Sommer 

Abstract
Synthetic biology approaches have the potential to change the way we treat human disease. Recent developments within microbiome research enable the development of advanced microbiome therapeutics, which are engineered bacteria and yeast that express therapeutic activity. These cell therapies can act from multiple loci in the body to deliver both local and systemic action. To realize the potential of this new therapeutic modality several challenges must be addressed. Recent progress towards the development of regulatory elements that are robustly driving expression across the gastrointestinal tract will be presented along with the development of engineered strains modulating the gut/brain axis. Advanced microbiome therapeutics hold potential to deliver dynamic treatments for a variety of disorders.  

Bio
Morten Sommer is Professor of Microbiology and Scientific Director at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).   

Morten Sommer works on understanding and harnessing evolutionary processes and biological diversity.  Genome and metagenome wide screens are used in conjunction with synthetic biology to understand and engineer microbial communities and evolution.  In addition to his academic research Morten Sommer has co-founded several companies, including UTILITY therapeutics, SNIPR biome, Clinical-Microbiomics, UNION therapeutics, Biosyntia and Microlytic (acquired by Anatrace). These companies are developing new medicines to treat both inflammatory and infectious diseases and have commercialized life science tools, advanced microbiome analytics and biobased manufacturing processes. 

The talk is hosted by Associate Professor Marina Romero-Ramos, Dept. of Biomedicine.