The Gairdner Foundation & Farncombe Institute Symposium

November 10, 2026 | Hamilton, ON, Canada

The Gairdner Foundation & Farncombe Institute Symposium: Mechanistic Insights & Clinical Implications of the Microbiota–Gut–Brain Axis, taking place on November 10, 2026, at McMaster University, Hamilton, will showcase breakthrough discoveries that are transforming our understanding of how the trillions of microbes inhabiting the gut influence physiology far beyond the intestine.

Bringing together internationally recognized leaders and emerging investigators, the symposium will examine the microbiota–gut–brain axis from first principles to therapeutic translation: how diet shapes microbial function, how nutrients and microbial signals are sensed in the gut, and how these signals engage epithelial, immune and neural pathways to influence brain function, behaviour and disease. Cutting-edge research will highlight microbial regulation of barrier integrity and neuroimmune activation, the emerging roles of microbial metabolites such as phospholipids and histamine in pain and behaviour, and the contribution of the gut microbiome to psychiatric disorders, circadian biology and irritable bowel syndrome. The meeting will then turn to one of the field’s most exciting frontiers—how this rapidly expanding mechanistic knowledge can be converted into new treatments—exploring fecal microbiota transplantation, probiotics and bacteriophages as increasingly precise strategies to manipulate microbial communities and their functions.

Featuring speakers from leading institutions across North America and Europe, together with investigators from McMaster University’s Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, the symposium will create a unique forum at the intersection of microbiology, neuroscience, immunology, nutrition, gastroenterology and clinical medicine. By connecting molecular mechanisms with human disease and emerging therapies, the program will highlight a field undergoing a fundamental shift: from describing associations between the microbiome and disease to identifying causal pathways that can be measured, targeted and ultimately translated into better approaches to disorders of the gut, brain and their complex bidirectional communication.