"I certainly believe that without our microbes, our immune systems wouldn't be primed, we wouldn't be able to digest many of the foods that we consume…and we wouldn't be able to protect from pathogens, so they basically do it all," says Dr. Jonathan Clayton, assistant professor (better known as "The Monkey Doc") at the University of Nebraska.

Despite a growing amount of evidence suggesting that the human microbiome impacts us in significant ways, there's still so much we don't know. For instance, what can be learned about site-specific microbial communities within our body, or even throughout a single organ such as the skin? What can be said about the relationship between the gut microbiome and the brain, or between stress and the microbiome? How does diet impact the microbiome? How quickly can the microbiome change in response to different environmental stimuli? These are just a few of the questions that Dr. Clayton is interested in answering.

By tuning in, you'll hear his take on all of this and more, including:

What insights were gained from Dr. Clayton's biomedical research on the differences between the microbiomes of wild versus captive non-human primates
How dysbiosis and diversity is defined in terms of microbiota
What types of challenges are inherent in these areas of research, and where Dr. Clayton plans to direct future research

A Conversation with The Monkey Doc on Host-Microbiome Interactions—Dr. Jonathan Clayton—Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska