20 Years of Research dedicated
to Gut Microbiota
Patrice D. Cani is a researcher, entrepreneur, and most of all, a teacher. His main research interests are the investigation of interactions between the gut microbiota, the host and specific biological systems such as the endocannabinoid system and the immune system in the context of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiometabolic disorders and cancer.
Research Experience
Patrice D. Cani is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), he has a M.Sc. in Nutrition and another M.Sc. in Health Sciences, and PhD in Biomedical Sciences (physiology, metabolism and nutrition) from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Brussels, Belgium. He has been visiting professor at the Imperial College London between 2010 and 2019.
Today, he is Full Professor of Physiology, Metabolism and Nutrition, he is honorary researcher director from the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (WELBIO-FRS-FNRS) and team leader in the Metabolism and Nutrition lab at the Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI) from the UCLouvain. In 2007, he published the discovery of the concept of metabolic endotoxemia, and more recently, he discovered the beneficial role of the bacteria Akkermansia muciniphila on obesity and cardiometabolic risk factors (published in PNAS 2013, in Nature Medicine 2017 and in Nature Medicine 2019, Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2022).
He is the author and co-author of more than 360 scientific research publications, reviews and book chapters. Co-inventor of several patents from UCLouvain.
A Book to recommend?
In Bugs as Drugs, edited by Robert A. Britton and Patrice D. Cani. They have assembled a fascinating collection of reviews that chart the history, current efforts, and future prospects of using microorganisms to fight disease and improve health. Sections cover traditional uses of probiotics, next-generation microbial therapeutics, controlling infectious diseases, and indirect strategies for manipulating the host microbiome.
Out in 2018 - Check it out here
