Christopher A. Lowry, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Departments of Integrative Physiology, Psychology, and Neuroscience, the Center for Neuroscience, and the Center for Microbial Exploration. 

He has additional appointments in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, as a Principal Investigator in the Department of Veterans Affairs Eastern Colorado Health Care System, VA Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education, & Clinical Center, and as the director of the Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Laboratory at CU Boulder. 

He is also the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Military and Veteran Microbiome Consortium for Research and Education.

Dr. Lowry’s research program at CU Boulder focuses on understanding stress-related physiology and behavior, emphasizing the microbiome-gut-brain axis. His research is designed to lead to novel, microbiome-based interventions for preventing anxiety, mood, and trauma- and stressor-related disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Lowry about his work involving the microbiome-gut-brain axis, a research term for how our digestive systems' health is intertwined with our brains' health. We’ll cover broad theoretical topics like what the gut microbiome is and how it works, to the practical side of things like what you can eat to make it healthier.

We’ll also discuss some of Chris’ work on how the gut biome can affect our resilience and susceptibility to traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress, as well as his research in these areas, specifically involving the veteran and first responder communities. 


More about Dr. Lowry: https://www.colorado.edu/iphy/people/faculty/christopher-lowry


Timestamps:

00:00:22 Who is Dr. Chris Lowry

00:03:08 Background, Education and the Microbiome

00:10:28 Where is the Biome

00:13:02 What Benefits Our Microbiome

00:16:46 How Does Food Diversity Affect the Microbiome 

00:20:15 Blood/Gut Barrier

00:22:28 Fiber: Diversity is Best

00:27:05 How do Antibiotics Affect the Microbiome

00:29:13 Recovery From Antibiotics

00:30:31 Guidelines in Probiotic Diversity

00:35:00 Outro