Climate Change and Microbial Biodiversity: Possible Impacts on our Food and Gut Microbiota

While climate change threatens iconic animal species, its impact on microbes—invisible to the naked eye—is just as critical, especially for our food and our health. Climate change isn’t just about rising temperatures; it’s a cascade of environmental perturbations that are disrupting ecosystems. This cascade of effects emphasizes the importance of protecting the microbial biodiversity in our environment as a way to preserve our own health.

This event is co-organized with the Consulate General of France in Vancouver.

Dr Emmanuelle Helloin is a research engineer at the Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE, France) specializing in bacteriology. Her academic background includes a Master’s in Microbial Ecology with a focus on biological treatment of wastewater, and doctoral research on the impact of environmental factors on Listeria monocytogenes in cheese production. She furthered her research with a postdoctoral fellowship focused on identifying virulence factors of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli. Currently, she is responsible for organizing and developing the CIRM-BP, a culture collection of animal and human pathogenic bacteria at INRAE (Nouzilly). Her expertise lies in the bacteriology of risk group 2 and 3 pathogens, with a strong emphasis on biosafety and biosecurity as well as ISO 9001 quality management.

Dr Helloin’s current objectives involve expanding the CIRM-BP collection to include commensal bacteria and a microbiota biobank, aiming to make these resources accessible to the international scientific community. She actively participates in European and national research projects focused on characterizing bacterial biodiversity and evaluating potential new antimicrobial agents.

Dr Helloin is also the second Visiting Scientist from France at Green College, a residency that is co-sponsored with the Consulate General of France in Vancouver.