Can your gut composition predict Alzheimer's? That's today's big question and my returning guest is Gautam Dantas. Gautam heads up the Dantas Lab at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. His lab works at the interface of microbiogenomics, ecology, synthetic biology, and systems biology to understand, harness, and engineer the biochemical processing potential of microbial communities.Since our last conversation, Gautam was named a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology for his studies of microbial communities and antibiotic resistance. I wanted to have him back on the show, not just because Gautam is one of my favorite guests of all time, and not just because of this new study we're going to really dig into, but because you have probably been affected by Alzheimer's in some way.Alzheimer's is growing more prevalent throughout the world every day as the U. S., China, and so many other countries get old. We've asked so many questions about dementia, Alzheimer's, and other brain diseases and found so few answers that are repeatable and can either prevent or just slow this disease in some way. And that's what makes me so excited about Gautam's new research, however preliminary it might be. We get to keep doing it. We get to keep asking these important questions that can help people. -----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.-----------INI Book Club:The Three Body Problem by Cixin LiuFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:Read Gautum's study on the gut microbiome and Alzheimer'sKeep up with the Dantas LabListen to our first episode with GautamVolunteer for research at the Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center at Washington UniversityFind more research opportunities and clinical trials near youFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comSupport our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgradeFollow us on Twitter: