Dr Janelle Ayres
Meet Janelle, a co-investigator on CANCAN
Janelle Ayres is a molecular and systems physiologist who studies evolutionary theory and microbes to understand how all of our physiological systems and our brain interact with each other to promote optimal health. Ayres’ research into how our physiologies are regulated by microbes and the mechanisms by which microbes affect us is paving the way to an entirely new understanding of normal and dysfunctional biological processes.
More about Janelle
How a host responds to a pathogen determines outcome of infection, and the long-standing belief was that a host needed to kill an invading pathogen in order to survive. Ayres’ discovery of the host “co-operative defense” system has challenged this notion. As part of her paradigm-shifting work, Ayres showed that a host can employ disease tolerance defenses executed by the co-operative defense system during infection that limits pathology and promotes host survival while having no effect on the pathogen. Ayres made a number of other breakthroughs in this area, revealing not only more about fundamental, dynamic biological processes but also charting discoveries that have potential translational applications for treating a wide array of diseases as well as ways to promote healthy aging.