Prof. Tami Martino, Department of Biomedical Sciences, spoke to The Morning Edition on CBC Radio Kitchener-Waterloo about her new research that found that our gut microbiome is important for how we heal from a heart attack.

The research found that the gut microbiome composition in mice follows a day-night circadian rhythm.

They also found restoring the gut microbiome in mice with a normal circadian clock mechanism helped them heal faster from heart damage than mice without a healthy gut microbiome, and mice fed during daytime healed more effectively than those fed at night.

Martino is the director of U of G’s Centre for Cardiovascular Investigations and researches how our circadian rhythms affect our cardiovascular systems, including how circadian disruptions increase the risk for heart disease.