Title: The gut microbiota and weight loss: Results from a weight loss intervention of daily caloric restriction versus intermittent fasting Speaker: Dr Maggie Stanislawski (University of Colorado) Abstract: Altered gut microbiota has been linked to obesity and may influence weight loss. In this presentation, I will present findings from a study examining the gut microbiota of participants during a weight loss intervention trial of daily caloric restriction (DCR) versus intermittent fasting (IMF). After three months of this intervention, participants experienced significant improvements in clinical health measures, along with altered composition and diversity of fecal microbiota. I will discuss the associations between gut microbiota characteristics and changes in clinical measures during the intervention, such as weight and waist circumference. These initial analyses also show differences between DCR and IMF participants in the relative abundance of the genus-level taxon of Akkermansia in response to the interventions. I will also discuss current and ongoing work to extend these results to include data from the full year-long intervention, as well as 6-months post intervention, and to understand the roles of metabolomics, host genetics, and DNA methylation. Our results provide insight into how omic profiles respond to a weight loss intervention, and how they relate to weight loss responsiveness. About the speaker: Maggie Stanislawski is a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and her work aims to understand the role of the gut microbiome and related molecular profiles in health and disease, specifically obesity, cardiometabolic disease and inflammatory conditions. Before completing her PhD in Epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health, Dr. Stanislawski completed her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at Pomona College and a masterâs degree in Statistics at Colorado State University.