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In the last decade, biology has made revolutionary advances from century-old debates about the relative importance of non-pathogenic bacteria.

Today we know that individuals are not solitary, homogenous entities but consist of complex communities of many species that likely evolved during a billion years of coexistence.

Holobionts (hosts and their microbes) and hologenomes (all genomes of the holobiont) are multipartite entities that result from ecological, evolutionary and genetic processes.

I propose, therefore, that the health of animals, including humans, is fundamental multi-organismal; that any disturbance within the complex community of host and microbial cells has drastic consequences for the wellbeing of the individual member of this association; and that the microbiome should be viewed as an organ of the host.

This newfound awareness of the dependency of phenotypes on other species and environmental conditions presents additional layers of complexity for the life sciences including medicine and evolutionary theory; and raises many questions that are being addressed by new research programmes.

Thomas Bosch studied Biology at the University of Munich and Swansea University College in the UK from 1976 to 1983. He earned his doctorate from the University of Munich in 1986.

From 1986 to 1988, Bosch held a postdoctoral position at the University of California, Irvine, USA. After a position as research associate at the University of Munich, he was appointed to professorship for Zoology at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena in 1997.

Since 2000 Bosch is Professor of General Zoology at Kiel University. Bosch is Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research (CIFAR).  From 2010 to 2013 he served as Vice-President of Kiel University and was responsible for Kiel University’s institutional strategy and international relations. Since November 2013 Bosch is heading the interdisciplinary research center “Kiel Life Science” (KLS) at Kiel University. 

RSB Director's Seminar Series. A light lunch will be served at 12pm before the seminar.