Research
Go with your Gut How Professor Ted Dinan changed the way we think about mental health. As a professor of psychiatry and a principal investigator at the worldrenowned APC Microbiome Ireland at UCC, Ted Dinan (Medicine 1979), has collaborated closely with UCC neuroscientist Professor John Cryan. Together, they helped coin and popularise a term now central to modern psychiatry and nutrition: psychobiotics, in other words, live organisms that, when consumed in adequate amounts, can benefit mental health.
mood-altering effects of certain gut bacteria. And just like that, psychobiotic.”
“It came to me just before a lecture one morning in 2012,” says Ted. “I needed a term for the
Before the turn of the millennium, most bacteria were seen as harmful. But today, researchers
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The Bridge
Having previously held senior academic roles in London, Ted spent his career at UCC blending psychiatry with biology. His work has shown that the gut microbiota, the trillions of microbes in our digestive systems, play a vital role in stress regulation, mood, memory and even sleep.
know that maintaining a diverse, healthy microbiome is essential, not just for digestion, but for mental resilience.
How the Gut Talks to the Brain According to Ted, our guts and brains are in constant conversation via complex pathways. He speaks of three of the most important routes of communication between gut microbes and the brain.