Bruce Yacyshyn, professor of medicine in the UofL Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, and James Collins, assistant professor in the UofL Department of Microbiology and Immunology, will share some of their findings on the role of gut immunity, or how the gastrointestinal tract responds to its environment, including microbes and other environmental challenges. They will explain the role of altered gut immunity in gut-centered disease such as inflammatory bowel disease, C. difficile and infectious diarrhea, as well as its potential role in diseases not centered in the gut, such as COVID-19, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

“Our gut microbiota plays a role in our daily lives in both positive and negative ways,” Collins said. “The microbiota can be shaped and adapted to the food we eat. In the case of C. difficile, a common hospital-associated, disease-causing bacteria, introducing a novel sugar to the diet may have aided the emergence and spread of two now-common – and severe disease-causing – groups of C. difficile.”

Collins and Yacyshyn also will discuss their current study of how a common medication available for more than 100 years, bismuth subsalicylate, may be effective against COVID-19.

The event will air via Facebook Live from beginning at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 20. As in the in-person versions of Beer with a Scientist, the 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session using Facebook comments.

To participate in the event, visit the Wednesday at 6:45 p.m.

The presentation also will be aired live on the .��

“Traditionally, work had defined boundaries, meal times had defined boundaries and socializing had defined boundaries. Those boundaries are gone,” said Brad Shuck, EdD, associate professor in the University of Louisville’s Department of ����ֱ��al Leadership, Evaluation and Organizational Development. “If your productivity has slipped in the last few weeks and you are feeling a tad more irritable or just defeated, there is a scientific reason why.”

Shuck and Charley Miller, founder of , a Louisville-based company that designs software to increase remote working efficiency, will help all of us new work-at-homers cope in a virtual presentation of the next Beer with a Scientist at 7 p.m. April 22.

Distraction – whether it is trying to learn and explain third-grade math, bombardment of Slack messages or the lure of just one more episode on Netflix – cost more than just a diversion from activity. It costs mental space and time to refocus. Using the behavioral economic principle of capacity, Shuck and Miller will explain how decision science can help us understand why we feel distracted, why we might get more easily frustrated, and what we can do about it.

Shuck and Miller will speak via Facebook Live from Holsopple Brewing beginning at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22. As in the in-person versions of Beer with a Scientist, their 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session using Facebook comments.��The live presentation will be archived on the Facebook pages for later viewing.

To participate in the event, visit the Louisville Underground Science Facebook page just before 7 p.m.: 

The presentation also will be aired live on the Holsopple Brewing Facebook page: 

Holsopple, a microbiologist, and Gambill met at a brewery and each have 15 years in the alcohol manufacturing industry. Now married with two young boys, they share their brewing talents with customers at the brewery. At the next Beer with a Scientist, Holsopple and Gambill will discuss beer sensory terms and how raw materials and yeast create beer aromas and flavor.

The talk begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at , 8023 Catherine Lane. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

University of Louisville researcher Levi Beverly, PhD, is here to help.

At the next Beer with a Scientist Jan. 22, Beverly, associate professor in the Department of Medicine, will explain these and other recent developments in biomedical research for people without a degree in science.

“We will talk about CRISPR, microbiota and other topics, but we also are asking the audience what they want to learn about,” Beverly said. “People are invited to bring an article or headline they have seen that needs more explanation or to post questions or topics on our Facebook page, .”

Beverly’s talk begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at , 8023 Catherine Lane. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

At the next Beer with a Scientist event, Tommy Roussel, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Louisville, will explain how scientists take their inventions from the lab to the marketplace.

Roussel is an academic scientist who is always trying to bring his work to market. He is involved in research and development using microfabricated sensor technologies and custom instrumentation in support of the development of biomedical and diagnostic applications. He worked with Andrea Behrman, PhD, PT, of UofL in the development of a to improve therapy for children with spinal cord injuries.

“The journey from invention to product: A scientist’s tale of failure, failure, failure, success!” will cover intellectual property (why bother?), the lean startup methodology (who’s your customer and where is the market?) and a few projects that didn’t quite make it outside the laboratory walls.

Roussel’s talk begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at , 8023 Catherine Lane. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

At this month’s Beer with a Scientist, Michael Menze, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Louisville, will discuss how the mechanisms behind these animals’ survival in impossible conditions can be used to transform human medicine.

“I am fascinated with how these animals can survive the limits of life, so my research focuses on decoding the molecular mechanisms that protect animals exposed to harsh environmental factors,” Menze said. “Understanding how life can survive these intense insults allows us to solve medical challenges ranging from long-duration space travel to securing the human blood supply.”

Menze’s talk begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 16, at , 8023 Catherine Lane. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

At this month’s Beer with a Scientist, Sam Cotton, PhD, program manager of Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program at the and director of the Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias program, will share the latest updates on what we all can do to prevent development of Alzheimer’s disease. For those who have developed Alzheimer’s and their caregivers, Cotton’s talk also will include how to care compassionately for people who have the disease.

This month’s Beer with a Scientist event is part of , a citywide event going on Sept. 10-13 highlighting health research for physicians, nurses, researchers and other health care providers and students. In addition, September is Optimal Aging month, with a focus on aging well.

Cotton’s talk begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at , 8023 Catherine Lane. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

“Working with UofL archaeology majors who also were scuba divers, we were able to show that the site was in fact a 2,000-year-old ceremonial center that the Maya had constructed on a small circular island in the middle of the large lake,” Hale said. “Using newly developed mapping techniques that linked sonar with satellite data, our UofL team was able to reconstruct the original contours of this Maya ‘Atlantis’ and reveal the extraordinary array of altars, standing stones and processional ways which had played a vital role in early Maya ceremony, cult and myth-making.”

A real-life “Indiana Jones,” Hale received a PhD in archaeology from Cambridge University and has performed field work for more than 40 years. He has published works on ancient Scandinavian, Greek and Maya civilizations and technologies.

At this month’s Beer with a Scientist, Hale will recount the exploration of the ancient, underwater site. His talk begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 14, at , 8023 Catherine Lane. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

At this month’s Beer with a Scientist, Chesney, director of the UofL Brown Cancer Center, will share just how far those therapies have come in improving treatment of cancer.

Chesney will discuss cutting-edge approaches to stimulate the immune system to eradicate previously terminal cancers, focusing on treatments that stimulate white blood cells called T cells to kill cancer cells using antibodies and viruses. These immunotherapies are proving to be effective for multiple types of cancer.

“These novel immunotherapies are translating to previously terminal cancer patients having normal life spans,” Chesney said. “I believe we will experience a 25 percent decrease in cancer-related deaths in the next five years.”

Chesney’s talk begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 17, at , 8023 Catherine Lane. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

“Those discussions forced us to think about how our physiology depends on the attributes of our home planet. The question about what to include in the Mars transport vehicle is a wake-up call for those insensitive to the elimination of biodiversity and poorly conceived urbanization globally,” said Ted Smith, PhD, deputy director of the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute at the University of Louisville. Smith also is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for NASA’s Translation Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) and organized the workshop.

At the next Beer with a Scientist, Smith will discuss what planning for long-range space travel reveals about the need to preserve our home planet’s health for our own survival.

Smith’s talk will begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12, at , 8023 Catherine Lane. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

Admission is free. Purchase of beer or other items is not required but is encouraged.

Upcoming Beer with a Scientist events:

• July 17:  Jason Chesney, MD, PhD, will discuss recent advances in using our own immune cells to cure cancer.