Medicine's Aaron Burberry studies gut bacteria to treat ALS and dementia

Gut bacteria discovery could change how doctors treat ALS and dementia

Sci Tech Daily: Aaron Burberry, assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at the School of Medicine, identified a molecular link between gut microbes and disease risk that may help explain why some people with inherited susceptibility go on to develop ALS or FTD while others do not. “We found that harmful gut bacteria produce inflammatory forms of glycogen (a type of sugar), and that these bacterial sugars trigger immune responses that damage the brain,” said Burberry.