Prof Cryan Profiled in The Star for Science Week

17 Nov 2016

The Irish Daily Star Newspaper profiled Professor John Cryan's research in an article 'GUT FEELING IS REAL, your stomach has a direct effect on your mind' on Nov 14th, as part of its Science Week Special.

In the IRISH DAILY STAR article Professor Cryan explains that "there’s a pure science underlying ‘gut feeling’ and one of our goals is really to determine what that is and whether we can hijack that system and promote better health, in particular better brain health and mental health.”

Professor John Cryan describes the work he is undertaking with his colleague Prof Ted Dinan Head of Psychiatry at UCC and their team, “What we’re doing here at the APC Microbiome Centre in Cork is to unravel how the gut and brain talk to each other. One of the things we’ve discovered is the microbes in your gut (the microbiome) is crucial for our brain development and that you need appropriate microbes for normal brain development, especially as we age.” As a result, mental health is one area in particular which could benefit from a greater understanding of the role gut microbes play in brain development. “What we’re looking at is the whole science around psychobiotics".

The article summarises  'One thing we know for certain is the state of your gut affects your state of mind and you need to look after your gut and, in turn, that will look after your mind.” So next time you get a gut feeling, listen to it'.