Aging Brains & Hungry Microbes

John Penders is a Professor at the Department of Medical Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Infection Prevention at Maastricht University, Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences. His studies focus on understanding the factors that shape the microbial communities living in our intestines and how this in turn influences our health and disease risks.
In his talk John Penders will discuss how your microbiome develops and how nutrition shapes its balance, and how microbial metabolites influence organs beyond the gut, including the brain and lungs.

Sébastien Foulquier is an Assistant Professor in Neurovascular Pharmacology at Maastricht University, Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology.

In this talk, he will take you into the world of the brain’s smallest blood vessels. How do these tiny vessels cope with high blood pressure, and what happens when they start to fail? His research focuses on vascular dementia, particularly cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD), and how changes in blood flow and vessel function can affect brain health. Discover how studying these microscopic vessels can help us better understand brain ageing and cognitive decline.