Gut Microbes and Obesity

On the evening of Tuesday 26 May 2026 we will welcome Professor Patrice Cani to talk about the role of gut microbes and obesity. Prof Cani will give an overview of the current state of the societal problems posed by obesity and its long-term treatment, including his research on the role of gut bacteria.

Talk synopsis

You are not alone in your own body. Trillions of bacteria live inside you  and when they falter, the consequences reach well beyond your gut.

Over the past twenty years, researchers have discovered that an imbalanced gut microbiota allows bacterial toxins to seep into the bloodstream, triggering the chronic inflammation that drives insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, a condition now affecting more than 600 million people worldwide.

The story, however, is one of discovery rather than doom. Dietary fibres feed gut bacteria that release GLP-1 a gut hormone regulating appetite and blood sugar. More recently, a serendipitous finding showed that bacteria also convert dietary choline into a molecule (TMA)  that physically blocks the master switch of inflammation inside our cells. Obesity and diabetes, long thought inseparable, can in fact be decoupled.

A newly described bacterium, Dysosmobacter welbionis, present in up to 95% of healthy adults but depleted in diabetic patients, independently stimulates GLP-1, reduces liver fat and improves blood sugar without any weight loss.

The gut microbiota is not a fixed destiny. It responds within days to what we eat and how we move. Eating varied fibres and limiting ultra-processed foods are, at the molecular level, investments in the ecosystem that regulates our metabolism every day.

We are not simply what we eat. We are what our microbes make of what we eat.

To comply with BSB security arrangements, please register via this form.

The talk will start at 19h30 and will be in the Social Area above the Brel Theatre at the British School of Brussels (BSB), Tervuren. The talk is free to all and will be followed by our usual social networking with drinks and light snacks.

If you have any questions, or require assistance in completing the form, please contact us via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

About the speaker

Patrice Cani is full professor of Physiology, Metabolism and Nutrition and leads a research team at the Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI) at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) in Belgium and is Visiting Professor at Imperial College London at the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction in London.

He is honorary research director at the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS) and WELRI (WELBIO) investigator. After a B.Sc. degree in dietetics, he joined the Faculty of Medicine of UCLouvain where he received a M.Sc. in Nutrition, another M.Sc. in Health Sciences, and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences (physiology, metabolism and nutrition).

In 2007, Patrice 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. Last year, he contributed to the identification of a novel bacterium, Dysosmobacter welbionis, impacting on glucose metabolism, inflammation and cancer. His main research interests are the investigation of interactions between gut microbes and host in the context of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiometabolic disorders and cancer.

He is recipient of prestigious grants, including two ERC grants, and multiple prizes including the “Baillet Latour Grant for Medical Research” (2015), the “International Prize of Physiology Lucien Dautrebande” (2016), the "Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research and Creativity" from the joint scientific committee of the Academies of Medicine of Belgium and France and the Council of the JA DeSève Research Chair of Québec (2019), and the Prize for Biomedical Research (The AstraZeneca Foundation & KAGB/ARMB) (2022).

He has been elevated at the rank of Officer of the Walloon Merit (O.M.W.) and was elected as member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium since 2016. He also received the Bauchau Chair at UNamur (2016) and the Francqui Chair at ULiège (2017).

He is author/co-author of more than 400 scientific research publications, reviews and book chapters and ranked in the top 1% world-class researcher selected for his exceptional research performance and citations in the world (source Clarivate), h-index 121 and cited more than 75 750 times (Scopus, November 2025).

Patrice’s motto is: “In Gut We Trust”.

Further events in our 2026 programme are in formulation! More events coming soon!