📢New paper alert Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) syndrome is officially recognised as a single, multi-organ continuum Our new review in Gut Microbes points to a critical, overlooked culprit: the gut microbiome ➡️https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19490976.2026.2685906#abstract

Gut‑derived bacteria can migrate into the brain after a stroke  ‪@fzmarques.bsky.social & colleagues‬ found that blocking sympathetic tone decreases gut permeability, brain bacterial load, and improves motor outcomes without changing infarct size:

New paper from our team 🧠🦠 After stroke, gut‑derived bacteria can migrate into the brain Blocking sympathetic tone ↓ gut permeability, ↓ brain bacterial load, and improves motor outcomes—without changing infarct size Congrats to Dr Alex Peh! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Gut bacteria presence in the brain is increased after ischemic stroke in mice

Systemic infections are a common cause of complications and death after stroke. These infections can occur due to the breakdown of the gut epithelial barrier and the translocation of bacteria from ...

tandfonline.com

New #MicrobiomeDigest is OUT microbiomedigest.com/2026/01/14/j... • gut microbiome / @fasnicar.bsky.social • maternal microbiome / @fzmarques.bsky.social • bark microbiome / @bobpmleung.bsky.social See you next week at #MVIF 45 (@microbiomevif.bsky.social)!

January 14, 2026

See you at MVIF next week! Gut microbiomeEarly-life colonization by aromatic-lactate-producing bifidobacteria lowers the risk of allergic sensitization – Pernille Neve Myers – Nature Microbiology&n…

microbiomedigest.com

Excited to host Tim at the Victorian Heart Institute Limited space, please sign up below And thanks for sharing @monashnutrition.bsky.social

Monash Nutrition, Dietetics & Food@monashnutrition.bsky.social · 7mo ago

What if heart health starts in the gut? 🧠❤️ Join us for 'A Conversation with Tim Spector A free public event exploring the science of food, the gut microbiome & cardiovascular health. Q&A inc. Prof @fzmarques.bsky.social 📅 Tue 3 February 5.30 pm | 🎟️ Free 🔗 lnkd.in/gTjvc3zs

Our first paper of 2026 is out When we began this project, this was not the paper we set out to publish But science has a way of redirecting us toward the questions we should be asking #Microbiome researchers-this one’s for you www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 🧵

The maternal microbiome influence on pregnancy success: breeding comparison of germ-free and conventionalized mice

Germ-free (GF) animals, which are entirely devoid of all microorganisms, are one of the most powerful tools for studying the role of the microbiome in a phenotype, moving the microbiome field from ...

tandfonline.com

Excited to welcome Tim to our institute If you are in Melbourne and are interested in heart health and diet this will be a great event 👇👇👇

Monash Nutrition, Dietetics & Food@monashnutrition.bsky.social · 7mo ago

What if heart health starts in the gut? 🧠❤️ Join us for 'A Conversation with Tim Spector A free public event exploring the science of food, the gut microbiome & cardiovascular health. Q&A inc. Prof @fzmarques.bsky.social 📅 Tue 3 February 5.30 pm | 🎟️ Free 🔗 lnkd.in/gTjvc3zs

I was asked to share my Hypertension Australia Colin Johnston lecture, delivered at the joint Hypertension Australia-@ASCEPTanz last month in Adelaide So if you missed it, here it is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qZn... #microbiome #hypertension #bloodpressure #resistantstarches #shortchainfattyacids

2025 Hypertension Australia Colin Johnston Lecture, delivered by Prof Francine Marques

YouTube video by Francine Marques

youtube.com

Announcing our lab annual award winners 🏆 Every year, our team votes on team members who contributed towards helping behaviours, something we fail to capture in promotion and fellowship applications Here are the 2025 award winners:

Lab presentations at the joint @ascept.bsky.social and Hypertension Australia meeting this week 🤩 #hypertension #microbiome #immunesystem

✅ New preprint alert, led by final year PhD student Evany Dinakis 📄 Read it here: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧬 Key insights: Gut microbiome composition and colonic pH are linked to systemic immune profiles in humans #microbiome #microbiota #immunesystem @microbiomevif.bsky.social

The gut microbiome and colonic pH shape the peripheral immune landscape in humans

The physicochemical environment of the gut, particularly colonic pH, plays a critical role in shaping host-microbe interactions; yet its influence on systemic immunity in humans remains poorly underst...

medrxiv.org

Congratulations to @rikeish.bsky.social, awarded the Victorian Cardiovascular Research Network inaugural award for best ECR paper of the year in the discovery category #microbiome #bloodpressure Kicking goals 👏👏👏 Full paper 👇👇👇 www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/...

Gut Microbiota Metabolites Sensed by Host GPR41/43 Protect Against Hypertension | Circulation Research

BACKGROUND: Fermentation of dietary fiber by the gut microbiota leads to the production of metabolites called short-chain fatty acids, which lower blood pressure and exert cardioprotective effects. Sh...

ahajournals.org

Congratulations to Rikeish R Muralitharan His major PhD paper published in Circulation Research in February 2025 is already a WoS Highly Cited paper 🤩 lnkd.in/gMbx5HyA

As our former PhD student Dr Anna Beale used to say: ✨ Women are not small men ✨ Last year, we showed in Circulation Research that maternal fibre intake during pregnancy protects offspring hearts via gut microbial metabolites (SCFAs) 🔗https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.124.324614

Maternal Diet and Gut Microbiota Influence Predisposition to Cardiovascular Disease in Offspring | Circulation Research

ahajournals.org

Thank you for the recognition! Grateful for the support from @fzmarques.bsky.social and Malindi, PhD student, lead coordinator for the study. Also to High BP Foundation for the seed funding!

ISHR Australasian Section@ishr-aus.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Congratulations to our next #ECIExcellence2025 nominee, @rikeish.bsky.social from Monash University, on launching his first clinical trial, GRAINS-BP! This study investigates how dietary fibres and SCFAs may lower blood pressure through the gut–brain axis.

Or as Brene Brown wrote “You can either invest a reasonable amount of time attending to fears and feelings, or squander an unreasonable amount of time trying to manage ineffective and unproductive behavior"

Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 9mo ago

My quote of the day Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership. Colin Powell

Gold thesis titles in this thread 🤣

John Gallagher@earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.

A great honour to receive the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Jian Zhou Medal last night from the Minister Mark Butler and AAHMS President Prof Louise Baur, alongside the other amazing medalist Prof Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg

Congratulations Dr Lizzie Kleeman, Dr Carol Gubert, @anthonyjhannan.bsky.social & co-authors 👏👏👏 Thank you for the invitation for @rikeish.bsky.social and I to help with the #microbiome analysis requested by reviewers - a pleasure to work with you as always @natureportfolio.nature.com

Anthony Hannan@anthonyjhannan.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I am delighted to share our new paper! nature.com/articles/s41... Lizzie Kleeman & our Florey Institute team, with WEHI, UoM & others, found that paternal COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 infection) can alter sperm & offspring phenotypes, including anxiety. This discovery has major (brain) health implications!

Congratulations to our PhD student Evany Dinakis who completed her final milestone today, delivering a fantastic presentation 👏👏👏 an example of great science communication skills + great science #microbiome #bloodpressure @monashuniversity.bsky.social

If you missed Dr Chudan Xu's talk on what happens when we don't eat enough fibre, the preprint is now live 👇 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... #EESMicrobiome @events.embl.org

Lack of dietary fibre increases gut microbiome-derived uremic toxins that contribute to increased blood pressure

Insufficient dietary fibre intake is a known risk factor for high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, yet its mechanistic basis remains unclear. Here, we identify a gut microbial pathway linkin...

medrxiv.org

Prof Francine Marques@fzmarques.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Big thank you to @events.embl.org, @cibiocm.bsky.social, @borklab.bsky.social, Mani Arumugam & @amibhatt.bsky.social for a wonderful microbiome conference #EESMicrobiome My team and I had a great time, learned lots, met lots of inspiring researchers & made friends ✅ @monashuniversity.bsky.social

Big thank you to @events.embl.org, @cibiocm.bsky.social, @borklab.bsky.social, Mani Arumugam & @amibhatt.bsky.social for a wonderful microbiome conference #EESMicrobiome My team and I had a great time, learned lots, met lots of inspiring researchers & made friends ✅ @monashuniversity.bsky.social

Thank you so much for having me @events.embl.org What a great conference this has been! We are definitely coming back 🤩 #eesmicrobiome

EMBL Events@events.embl.org · 11mo ago

☀️ Good morning from Day 3 of #EESMicrobiome 🦠 ☕🥨 Fuelled by coffee and pretzels, we’re starting strong with Session 4: Microbiome–host interactions in health and disease. 🎤 'Understanding gut-to-host communication to prevent cardiovascular disease' by @fzmarques.bsky.social (Monash University)

Proud of our team members Dr Chudan Xu and Phoebe Cheong for being brave and asking (great) questions at @embl.org #EESMicrobiome 👏👏👏

Incredibly honoured to be the recipient of the 2025 Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Jian Zhou medal aahms.org/news/two-pio... Presenting on this topic tomorrow at @embl.org #EESmicrobiome in the beautiful Heidelberg @monashuniversity.bsky.social

Two pioneering researchers awarded 2025 Jian Zhou Medals - AAHMS

The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences has awarded the 2025 Jian Zhou Medal to two outstanding mid-career researchers whose work is transform ...

aahms.org

#GloMiNe recordings now available!! @cassyni.bsky.social ▶️ cassyni.com/s/mvif-glomi... YouTube ▶️ www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... @microbiotavault.bsky.social #MVIF Thanks @tosina.bsky.social for putting all up.

GloMiNe 2025 by Microbiota Vault and MVIF - 9th/11th September 2025 - YouTube

youtube.com

I’m here 🙌 🥳 If someone wants to catch up for coffee or a meal tomorrow let me know @borklab.bsky.social @cibiocm.bsky.social @luispedrocoelho.bsky.social

Prof Francine Marques@fzmarques.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Starting my journey from Australia to Heidelberg 🇩🇪 to the @embl.org Human Microbiome conference It’s not every day we get the chance of 4 days of human microbiome research 🤩🤩🤩 I’m so excited Still chance to attend it online 👇 www.embl.org/about/info/c...

Starting my journey from Australia to Heidelberg 🇩🇪 to the @embl.org Human Microbiome conference It’s not every day we get the chance of 4 days of human microbiome research 🤩🤩🤩 I’m so excited Still chance to attend it online 👇 www.embl.org/about/info/c...

The human microbiome

embl.org

Francine Marques @fzmarques.bsky.social talks about Preserving microbial diversity: An Australian perspective

#microsky #gastrosky 🧪

Prof Francine Marques@fzmarques.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Our new @natrevgastrohep.nature.com review is now online "Parental diet and offspring health: a role for the gut microbiome via epigenetics" Co-authors Chaoran Yang, @mattsnelson.bsky.social & Sam El-Osta A fascinating area of research with lots of potential nature.com/articles/s41...