Using DNA to Keep Animals Healthy
Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur are two scientists whose names may sound vaguely familiar. These two scientists of the 1800 are responsible for saving millions of lives by discovering the connection of bacteria and disease. But not all bacteria are bad. In reality we need a balanced microbial population of bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa and viruses to stay alive. But of the 100 trillion microbes that can be found in and on an animal’s body, only 1% of them can be cultured in a lab. So how do we pinpoint the microbial makeup of disease? How do we eradicate the bad bugs while not disrupting the exquisitely delicate equilibrium of the remaining microbes? And oh yes, how do we not give rise to Super Bugs that defy all of the antibiotics in our arsenal? My guest is Dr. Janina Krumbeck. She is the director of Microbiome Applications at MiDog.
BIO:
Dr. Krumbeck has received her PhD at the University of Nebraska Lincoln in cell and molecular biology with an emphasis on microbial ecology. She has focused her research on gastrointestinal microbiology in order to understand how bacteria interact with the human and rodent hosts to promote health.
At MiDOG LLC Dr. Krumbeck is leading the efforts to bring novel tools to veterinarians to improve the diagnosis of infections and to reduce animal suffering.