2025 Glenn Gibson Early Career Researcher Award Goes to Researcher in China Focused on Probiotics for Brain Health
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 effects of probiotics for brain health. His work seeks to identify probiotic effector molecules and the genetic traits that shape their synthesis and metabolism.
After identifying one promising microorganism, Bifidobacterium breve CCFM1025, Dr. Tian showed how the probiotic reduced anxiety- and depression-like behaviors induced by stress in a mouse model; he further demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing depressive symptoms in people with major depressive disorder. He identified the aldh gene as a molecular marker distinguishing indole-3-lactic acid (ILA) synthesis capabilities across Bifidobacterium species, and further demonstrated a causal link between ILA-producing capacity of Bifidobacterium and its neurobehavioral effects. These findings may provide a framework for screening microbial groups with potential brain health benefits.
During his time in Prof. John Cryan’s lab at APC Microbiome, Dr. Tian received specialized training and contributed to work that later resulted in three ESI Highly Cited Papers, including one mechanistic study and two clinical research articles, advancing knowledge of the gut-brain axis. Overall, Dr. Tian has so far contributed to more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and continues to advance an ambitious program of research.
In his future work, he will continue investigating how microbially synthesised neurotransmitters and their precursors affect the central nervous system, with the aim of creating new translational solutions. He is also focusing on the vertical transmission of probiotics from mothers to offspring and their impact on early-life brain health, as well as screening potentially neuroactive probiotics derived from uncultured gut microorganisms.
The award committee, composed of ISAPP board members and affiliates, recognized Dr. Tian for making meaningful and impactful contributions to the probiotic field early in his scientific career. The award is given annually to a researcher who is less than five years past their terminal degree, in a field of study related to probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics or fermented foods. He will receive a cash prize and will speak in person at the ISAPP annual meeting in July, 2025.
