Free special screening of the documentary: The Invisible Extinction

Movie poster

The Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics would like to invite you to a free special screening of the documentary The Invisible Extinction with an expert research panel on April 24th at 18.30-21:00 at the Chr. Hansen Auditorium, Kommunehospitalet. Sign up has closed. The event is part of the national event Forskningens Døgn.

In the popular American documentary, The invisible Extinction we follow the renown microbiology scientists Marty Blaser and Gloria Dominguez-Bello on a mission to protect and restore our missing microbes before it's too late. In the movie they show us how overuse of antibiotics and elective C-sections are destroying the healthy bacteria in our bodies, and fueling the stratospheric rise in obesity, diabetes, asthma, and food allergies.

Before the film, you can learn about the microorganisms embedded in your daily diet – those in fermented foods. Observe the microbial communities that make food delicious, taste how the microbes transform food, and discover how these foods support a healthy microbiome when PhD student Ana Cuesta Mate and postdoc Veronica Sinotte serve you fermented snacks.

The research field, hologenomics, retells the story of life through a holistic view of the evolution of the interaction between organisms and their microorganisms. Instead of only looking at organisms' own genetic material in answering biology's big questions about adaptation and evolution, in hologenomics the genomics of the millions of microorganisms that live on, in and around us is taken into account as well. These microorganisms are known as our microbiome.

Our expert panel consists of:

Associate Professor Jakob Stokholm, COPSAC (REGIONH) and Department of Food Science (UCPH FOOD). Jakob investigates, among other things, how the child's microbiome is shaped during pregnancy and in the early years, as well as how our microbiome can affect our risk of diseases later in life.
Associate Professor Sandra Breum Andersen, Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics. Sandra also investigates how our microbiome affects our health. She does this by looking at specific bacteria in our stomachs, which she grows in artificial organs called organoids.
Professor and Center Director Tom Gilbert, Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics. Tom leads the world's first basic research center in hologenomics, which is dedicated to investigating the essential connection between us and our microorganisms.