The Microbes and Social Equity working group and the University of Maine Institute of Medicine present the MSE spring speaker series 2022.
February 23, 2022, 12:00 - 13:00 EST: Dr. Jake Robinson is an ecologist and researcher. He recently completed a PhD at the University of Sheffield, UK. His academic interests lie at the intersection of microbial ecology, ecosystem restoration and social research. He will soon be publishing a book called
Invisible Friends, which
is all about our extraordinary relationship with microbes, and how they shape our lives and the world around us. He has been a
long-time and transformative member of the MSE working group, and led a collaborative
paper with a large author team that was recently published in mSystems, titled "Twenty important questions in microbial exposure and social equity”
About the 2022 series: Microbes influence the health and well-being of all living things—individuals, communities, and broader environmental networks which span internationally. The Microbes and Social Equity group is presenting a speaker series, hosted by the University of Maine Institute of Medicine, which will specifically highlight how the different kinds of microbes that we interact with are influenced by aspects of daily life as well as the social policies which support or oppress livelihoods. The virtual speaker series aims to give students, staff, and faculty at UMaine, as well as our broader educational community, the opportunity to learn about how social equity and microbes intersect to shape health in wide range of settings—how we define what a ‘healthy human microbe’ is, how soil microbes shape community health, what challenges the integration of the microbiome research in a One Health perspective, and more. This speaker series will explore the ways that microbes connect public policy, social disparities, and human health, as well as ongoing research, education, policy, and innovation in this field.
