Dr. Martin Blaser

The human microbiome is the combination of bacterial and human cells that exist in a peaceful symbiosis and is responsible for the health and equilibrium of our body. Dr. Martin Blaser explains the role of the microbiome in keeping us healthy and discusses how the overuse of antibiotics is harming our health—contributing to the rise of obesity, asthma, diabetes, and certain forms of cancer. In Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling Our Modern Plagues, Dr. Blaser takes us into both the lab and deep into the fields where these troubling effects can be witnessed firsthand and tells us what we can do to avoid even more catastrophic health problems in the future.

Dr. Lita Proctor, program director for the Human Microbiome Project, and Dr. Martin Blaser, Professor of Internal Medicine and of Professor of Microbiology at NYU School of Medicine, talk about the 100 trillion good bacteria that live in the human body and the five-year federal project to sequence the genetic material of the bacteria taken from 250 healthy individuals. They’ll explain what they found, how healthy bacteria works in the body, and why it’s important for good health.