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Featured Speaker

Photo of Marie Lewis - Featured Speaker at Food Matters Live

Marie Lewis

Associate Professor of Gut Immunology & Microbiology

University of Reading

Marie’s first postdoctoral position was at the University of Bristol researching the spread of Campylobacter in poultry flocks. Marie then spent 7 further years at Bristol as a research fellow looking at early nutrition and its impact on immune and gut microbiota development in piglets. Having been appointed as a lecturer in gut Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Reading in 2013, Marie continued to focus on how early life events impact on bacterial colonisation of the gut and how this can have sustained influence on the development of immune and metabolic systems.  Such factors include environment, antibiotics and nutritional interventions such as iron/zinc, probiotics and prebiotics as well as various types of protein. The first few days of life, and weaning, appear to be critical points of developmental plasticity and getting it wrong at these times can have life-long implications for health and growth.