Prof. Emma Allen-Vercoe, Molecular and Cellular Biology, was featured on the popular CBC radio program Quirks & Quarks on Jan. 25. The segment will be re-broadcast Jan. 30 at 3 p.m.

The story focuses on Allen-Vercoe’s work involving the “robo-gut,” her laboratory that mimics the environment of the large intestine. The device allows researchers to learn more about the 1,000 bacterial species that inhabit a person’s “inner ecosystem.”

Using the robo-gut, Allen Vercoe is developing potential microbial therapeutics that could treat everything from infections with C. difficile (a pill she developed is now in clinical trials) to inflammatory bowel disease to depression and anxiety.

Hosted by Bob McDonald, Quirks & Quarks is an award-winning radio science program heard by a national audience of nearly 800,000 people in Canada and thousands more around the world via podcast.