Abstract: In this lecture Prof. Hall will delve into the intricate dynamics of microbial communities (i.e. the microbiota) during the early life developmental window, including the complex interplay between beneficial bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium, and potentially detrimental species, including Clostridium. She will cover their work which explores the critical role of these microbial players in shaping health outcomes during pregnancy and infancy, and how external factors may impact initial microbiota colonisation, and how targeted strategies to restore ecosystem ‘balance’ can be used to improve maternal and child health.

About the speaker: Prof Hall is the Chair of Microbiome Research at the University of Birmingham, UK, and she is also a Wellcome Investigator. Her lab’s research focus involves defining microbe/microbiota interactions during the early life developmental window.  She obtained a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Glasgow, UK, a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Cambridge, UK, and was a postdoctoral fellow at University College Cork, Ireland (APC Microbiome Institute). She returned to the UK to take up a Senior Lectureship at the University of East Anglia before moving to the Quadram Institute (both in Norwich, UK). Prior to Lindsay joining the University of Birmingham, she was Chair of Intestinal Microbiome at the Technical University of Munich in Germany.