Seven new “honorary professors” nominated

Herborn. Dr. Volker Rusch (left), founder of the Institute for Microecology in Hörbach, John Bienenstock (high left) of the McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, Peter Heidt (right) of the Dutch Foundation for Microbiology and Gnobiology, and their team held on Friday in Herborn the 31st International Symposium for Intestinal Flora Specialists. Experts from around the world discussed in the aula of the old university the theme “The role of viruses in disease and health.” Not all viruses are pathogens, some are “only” permanent inhabitants of the human body, said Thomas Bosch of the Christian Albrecht University in Kiel: “Over the last 50 years there has been an increase in chronic and complex diseases, the cause of which is still largely unknown. It has been found that a change in the composition of bacteria and viruses in our body contributes to it”. At the end of the presentations Rusch, Bienenstock and Heidt granted “honorary professorships of the Old Herborn University” to (high, from left to right) Robert Yolken from Baltimore (USA), Tim Lachnit of the University of Kiel, Steven Quistad from Paris, (front, from left to right) João Trindade Marques from Belo Horizonte (Brazil), Uri Laserson from New York, Patrick Forterre from Paris and Kimberley Seed of the University of Berkeley, California.

(Jöw/Photo: Weirich)