Choose Your Fighter: Tiny Allies vs Big Diseases

At birth, a baby's gut is like an empty house, awaiting bacteria. The gut microbiome, essential for development and health, is populated by bacteria like Bifidobacterium, which thrive in breastfed babies. These microbes help break down milk sugars and support the immune system. In this talk, I will explore the vital role these beneficial bacteria play in promoting infant health and explain how disturbances can affect both short- and long-term infant health.

Tuberculosis is still a major public health problem, with a quarter of the world’s population being latently infected. New treatments are urgently needed as many of the drugs we have previously used to combat infection are no longer able to protect us. This phenomenon is known as antimicrobial resistance. This is concerning because when germs stop responding to the medications designed to kill them, infections that were treatable can spread widely and become fatal. We must therefore look for new ways to fight tuberculosis. Rather than trying to kill the bacteria, a new approach is changing the way our immune system reacts to infection, and helping it to fight back.

Paediatric high-grade gliomas (a deadly type of brain tumour in children) are like a tough rugby team that’s incredibly hard to beat. Right now, we can only “slow them down” with radiotherapy, which works like a strong defensive tackle, stopping them from spreading quickly, never able to beat them. When radiation “tackles” these tumour cells, it can also make them weaker by forcing them into a state called senescence, where they stop growing but hang around like tired players on the field. Using a special drug called Navitoclax, which targets the weakened cells, we can remove these "tired players" entirely. When combined with radiation, Navitoclax acts like a powerful winger in rugby, exploiting the gaps and finishing the job.