Deep Dive into Fibre and Its Role in Gastrointestinal Conditions

Dr Genelle Lunken is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She is also a registered dietitian and the translational research lead at the IBD Centre of BC. Dr Lunken completed her doctoral studies in Nutritional Science at Massey University in New Zealand, where her research primarily centred on investigating the impact of habitual dietary fibre intake on the response of gut microbiota to a prebiotic (fibre) intervention. In 2017, she relocated to Vancouver, Canada, to commence a postdoctoral fellowship under the guidance of Drs. Bruce Vallance and Kevan Jacobson at UBC. During her postdoctoral fellowship, her research interests expanded to explore the interplay between nutrition, gut microbiota, and inflammation using mouse
models of inflammatory bowel disease. As of 2023, Dr Lunken established her own research laboratory at UBC. Her research focuses on expanding our knowledge of host-immune-microbe interactions, with a specific focus on identifying host (i.e., diet) and microbial factors involved in differing responses to medical and dietary therapies. By better understanding individualized responses to treatments, we can move towards developing and
using personalized therapeutic programs to improve patient outcomes.