Knowledge about the vaginal microbiota is important for women’s health worldwide, but the majority of the research to date has centered around women of European descent, with limited data from across different genetic, cultural, environmental, and health conditions. A new paper led by ISAPP board member Prof. Sarah Lebeer PhD, published in Trends in Microbiology, […]
By Dr. Mary Ellen Sanders PhD and Prof. Daniel Merenstein MD A Washington Post article published March 11, 2025 by a gastroenterologist addressed a question posed by a reader: “I’ve heard about the benefits of probiotics for years. Should I start taking them?” We both get this question frequently, and over the years have answered […]
The President of the ISAPP Board of Directors, Prof. Maria Marco PhD, was among the elite group of scientists elected this year to the American Academy of Microbiology. Membership in the Academy is given to individuals within the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) who are selected through a rigorous process that involves peer evaluation of […]
By Prof. Dan Merenstein MD While the existence of responders and non-responders are evident in any clinical trial, today’s forward thinkers envision the next logical step: personalized medicine. Here, I’m a skeptic in a sea of enthusiasts. Although a few ISAPP experts have cautioned that the claims for personalized approaches outpace their scientific substantiation (see […]
It is with great pleasure that the ISAPP board of directors announces this year’s winner of the Gregor Reid Award for Outstanding Scholars in Developing Nations: Josiane Kenfack MSc, a PhD student at the University of Yaounde I in Cameroon. Josiane’s scientific work focuses on the vaginal microbiome and probiotics, with the aim of improving […]
ISAPP is pleased to announce that the recipient of this year’s Glenn Gibson Early Career Researcher Award is Dr. Peijun Tian PhD, Associate Professor at Jiangnan University (China). Dr. Tian, who completed his PhD in Food Science and Engineering at Jiangnan University in 2021, is a researcher focused on both the mechanisms and the clinical […]
The ISAPP board of directors is thrilled to announce the winner of the 2nd Sanders Award for Advancing Biotic Science: Prof. Remco Kort PhD, a researcher at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Prof. Kort also currently serves as Chair of ARTIS-Micropia museum, and is the co-founder and Chair of the nonprofit Yoba for Life Foundation. […]
By the ISAPP Editorial Team, with contributions from the ISAPP Board of Directors 2024 was another banner year in the scientific literature on probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics and fermented foods as well as microbiome science. Scientists were prolific in all of these areas, with well over 10,000 published papers on biotics and fermented foods. 30,000 […]
By Dr. Mary Ellen Sanders PhD, Mary Ellen Sanders LLC, Colorado, USA, Dr. Hania Szajewska MD, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland, Prof. Karen Scott PhD, Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK From the time scientists began to understand how antibiotics disrupt the gut microbiota, questions have been raised about whether probiotics could help recovery […]
By Prof. Maria Marco PhD and Prof. Kevin Whelan PhD In studies on probiotics, prebiotics, and other biotics, the demonstrated health effect may depend on the personal characteristics and habits of the study participants. Take the following scenario: Person A and Person B consume the same prebiotic supplement. Person A typically eats a Mediterranean-style diet, […]
A longtime ISAPP board member, Prof. Dan Merenstein MD of Georgetown University School of Medicine, has received a prestigious honor: election to the US National Academy of Medicine. With this recognition, Prof. Merenstein joins an elite group of fewer than 100 American scientists, doctors and other professionals selected each year for exceptional achievements in medicine […]
By Prof. Maria Marco PhD, University of California, Davis “Kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses.” This percentage and others like it are frequently found on disinfectant labels. Ideally, the microbicidal effect of the product is sufficient to kill more than the numbers of the target pathogen or pathogens expected to be in the environment where […]
By Prof. Hania Szajewska MD PhD, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland Imagine you are a primary care pediatrician practicing in an area where respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are particularly common during the winter months. Due to the seasonal surge in viral infections, you might find yourself seeing 20-30 children per day with upper respiratory tract […]
By Dr. Rounak Chourasia PhD, National Agri-food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali, Punjab, India Food not only serves as a primary source of essential nutrients but also contains a wealth of potential bioactive compounds. Among these, peptides have garnered significant attention for their ability to impact health beyond basic nutrition. These short protein fragments, ranging from 2 […]
By Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD, Mary Ellen Sanders LLC, Probiotics Consulting, Prof. Bob Hutkins, PhD, University of Nebraska and Karen Scott PhD, Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen. Nearly one in four Americans say digestive health is the most important aspect of their overall health, according to a 2022 International Food Information Council survey. Prebiotics – […]
By Kelly S. Swanson, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA Prebiotics (1) have long been appreciated for their benefits to digestive function, immunity, energy balance, and metabolism. From a nutritionist’s perspective, the best way to consume dietary fibers and prebiotics is by eating a healthy diet comprising adequate amounts of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. […]
By Dr. Gabriel Vinderola PhD, CONICET, National University of Litoral, Argentina While the conceptualisation of postbiotics varies among scientists, some recent actions may suggest that regulatory agencies around the world are starting to align with the ISAPP definition (Salminen et al. 2021), understanding postbiotics as preparations of inanimate microorganisms able to confer a health benefit. […]
At the 2024 annual scientific meeting in Cork, Ireland, the ISAPP board welcomed its newest member, Dr. Geoffrey Preidis MD PhD of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. ISAPP President Prof. Maria Marco PhD says, “We are thrilled to have Dr Preidis on our board. He is a great colleague and brings scientific […]
At the ISAPP 2024 annual meeting in July, the ISAPP board of directors ushered in the beginning of the next leadership term, with the role of President being taken on by Prof. Maria Marco PhD from UC Davis (USA). Prof. Marco had served the previous three years as Vice President while Prof. Dan Merenstein MD […]
By Prof. Colin Hill PhD, University College Cork I have been a Board member of ISAPP since 2009, serving as President from 2012 to 2015. This year, following our successful annual meeting in my home city of Cork, I have decided to step down and make way for new blood. It is normal when a […]
By Marla Cunningham, ISAPP Executive Director The use of probiotics in premature infants has been highly topical in recent months. Probiotic use for the prevention of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm infants has been studied in over 65 randomised clinical trials, with systematic reviews showing significant reductions in NEC as well as all cause mortality. […]
By Prof. Daniel Merenstein MD and Dr. Mary Ellen Sanders PhD During the ISAPP 2024 meeting, an article titled, “Is there evidence to support probiotic use for healthy people?” was published. The authors concluded, “…we did not find a high level of evidence to support recommendations for other endpoints we reviewed for healthy people. Although […]
By Prof. Kristin Verbeke PhD, KU Leuven Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), primarily acetate, propionate and butyrate, are the most abundant anions in the large intestine. They are mainly produced from bacterial fermentation of undigested carbohydrates. Since SCFA were found to activate the orphan G-protein coupled receptors GPR-41 and 43 (renamed as free fatty acid receptor […]
With increasing age and frailty come changes in the gut microbiota – leading scientists to ask whether targeting the gut microbiota using prebiotics could contribute to healthier aging. Of particular interest is whether prebiotics have the potential to affect brain health and cognitive performance in older adults. An intervention study led by researchers at King’s […]
By Prof. Colin Hill PhD DSc, University College Cork, Ireland ISAPP has provided consensus definitions for a number of biotics that confer a health benefit on the host. These include prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics and postbiotics, but here I want to put forward an argument that bacteriophages (phages) could qualify as a new member of the […]
