Paul O’Toole, BA (Mod.) PhD is Professor of Microbial Genomics and a Principal Investigator in APC Microbiome Ireland, leading the research on the gut microbiome and healthy aging. He trained in Trinity College Dublin, Lund University Sweden, and University of Victoria BC, Canada, during which he learned how bacteria cause disease, and how to kill them. During a 7-year tenure at Massey University, New Zealand, he switched to working on commensal bacteria, applying the tools he previously used to study pathogens. He is a globally recognized leader in the field of Lactobacillus genomics, and he co-ordinated the ELDERMET project, a seminal study on the interaction between the diet and gut microbiome in older people. He also led the microbiome analysis for the EU project NuAge that showed that a Mediterranean diet delayed onset of frailty by improving the microbiome. He is a scientific advocate for Sustainability and environmental conservation, from native honey bees to wild Atlantic salmon. He was recently listed in the top 1% of highly cited scientists by Clarivate. For a full publication list please ignore non-updated section below and see this link: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/G-1593-2012

I am a Professor of Microbial Genomics in the School of Microbiology UCC, and a Principal Investigator in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (PAC), an SFI-funded centre focusing on gut health. My role in the APC is to co-lead the Microbiota in Extremes of Life programme, particularly studies on the elderly. I also employ reductionist models for studying diet-microbiota health interactions, through programmes on lactobacilli and the innate immune system (TLRs; ligands); lactobacillus as oral and opportunistic pathogens (NYU and the WT Sanger Centre); motility and flagellum assembly in lactobacilli, enterococci, and H. pylori. I also collaborate with the Rowett Centre/Univ. Aberdeen in establishing genetic systems for anaerobic gut commensals. I extended from reductionist models of host-microbe interaction to intestinal metagenomic analyses, which generate hypotheses that leverage smarter reductionist studies. From 2007-2013, I co-ordinated the ELDERMET project (eldermet.ucc.ie) investigating diet-microbiota health interactions in 500 subjects >65 years. ELDERMET successfully provided insights into how diet modulates microbiota in seniors, and how a low diversity microbiota caused by a narrow diet correlates with frailty and lower scores for cognition, higher inflammation, and more severe sarcopaenia [22797518]. I lead the metagenomics workpackage of a Univ. Bologna-led EU projects (http://www.nu-age.eu/) in which 1250 subjects receive supplementation with elements of a Mediterranean diet for one year. Analysis of metagenome, inflammasome and metabolome will allow us to probe causation, mechanisms and pathways if the diet changes the microbiota and if this impacts on health. W