“That led me to start reading a lot about the gut microbiome, the autonomic nervous system, and their connection with the brain and mental health,” she says. Today, Holingue has joined the ranks of scientists seeking to understand the interplay between the brain and the gut microbiome - that is the vast array of organisms, including bacteria, fungi and viruses, that thrive in the human gut. It’s clear there’s a physiological connection between brain and gut, says Dr. Glenn Treisman, a professor of medicine and psychiatry at Johns Hopkins. For Holingue, the connection between the gut and mental health is both scientific and personal. Ultimately we may be able to understand how the composition of the gut microbiome or metabolites that are produced by the gut microbiome helps cause mental illness or neurodevelopmental conditions, or the ways those conditions manifest in different people. We’re wrapping up a study at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins where we’re collecting physical health data, behavioral health data and gut microbiome data from a relatively small sample of autistic boys and girls, and trying to see if we find patterns between the types of microbes in their stool and what kind of co-occurring symptoms they have, like GI symptoms, sensory sensitivities, anxiety, and so on. Have you used your understanding of the gut microbiome and mental health connection to help with your own mental and digestive health?

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