When the Nova Interview series was launched, we promised meaningful conversations with leading scientists, scholars, healthcare professionals, artisans, and visionaries. In keeping with that pledge, Nova Fellow Alan C. Logan sits down with University of Colorado Boulder neuroscientist Dr. Christopher A. Lowry for our second interview in the series. Dr. Lowry is a global expert on the connection between the microbes that live in and around us, and human cognition and behavior—the so-called microbiome and mental health connection. Today, this area represents one of the most exciting areas of research within psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
Long before the gut-brain-microbiome connection was trending in legacy media outlets, Dr. Lowry and his colleagues were proposing that exposure to non-pathogenic microbes—through diet and contact with soils and nature in general—could have a positive influence on brain and behavior. Over ten years ago, Dr. Lowry published a provocative paper entitled ‘Can we vaccinate against depression?’, the primary tenets of which are now accepted in mainstream scientific discourse. Here in the second Nova Interview, Dr. Lowry describes the twists and turns of his fascinating journey of discoveries and where he and others might go next. The rich discourse in the interview epitomizes the Nova philosophy—ideas and creative thought from far reaching and diverse fields converge and intersect with the grand challenges of our time. It is easy to see how the topic of microbes and mental health requires the integration of ideas and solutions for the health and flourishing of people, places, and our planet.
You can read the Nova Interview via the link below — when you’ve let it sink in, please be sure to return here to discuss it with other Hub members!
Responses