Caitriona Long-Smith

About her:

Caitriona Long-Smith is Human Studies Co-Ordinator in the Neurogastroenterology Lab of Prof John Cryan and Prof Ted Dinan, at APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Ireland. The main interests of the lab involve understanding the interaction between the brain, gut and microbiome and how it applies to stress and immune-related disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome, obesity and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. The group is additionally involved in determining the neurobiological basis of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety and drug dependence.

Caitriona has a PhD in Neuroscience which focused on Parkinson’s disease, and she done post-doctoral studies on Alzheimer’s disease and on food intervention therapies to aid cognition. She is a previous SFI Advance Award recipient. Within APC Microbiome Ireland, Caitriona works on the translation of promising psychobiotic candidates from the pre-clinical team within the lab, into human intervention studies, focusing on amelioration of stress and anxiety and improvement of cognition. This work includes research on dietary interventions as part of the MyNewGut consortium.

About her talk:

This talk will describe the impact of gut microbes on stress-related disorders such as depression. Furthermore, the dietary recommendation of the MyNewGut consortium for people with depression or vulnerability to depression will be discussed. This recommendation includes a plant-based diet with a high content of grains /fibres and fish.