JAM Lecture 2014: Professor George Macfarlane

George was one of the first microbiologists to use mixed microbial inocula to understand interactions (realising that bacteria mainly grow in pure culture when on plates or in broths).

He designed continuous culture models of the gut, validated them, and used them alongside clinical studies over several decades of pioneering research into gut microbiology, including carbohydrate metabolism, proteolysis, pro/prebiotics, Clostridium septicum, biofilms in the gut, immunology, Ulcerative Colitis, Barrett's Oesophagus and the effect of ageing on the gut microbiota (and its mitigation).