UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Huck Institutes of Life Sciences will welcome Thomas Bosch, senior research professor at Kiel University and chair of the interdisciplinary research center Kiel Life Science, to Penn State University Park on Dec. 12 at 11 a.m. in Animal, Veterinary, and Biomedical Sciences Building (AVBS), Room 106, and on Dec. 11 at 3:30 p.m in AVBS 106.
The author of over 180 papers and three books, Bosch was named the inaugural recipient of Penn State’s Microbiome Medal, established by the OHMC to honor a scholar or group of scholars who “nobly extend excellence, acumen and ingenuity in research, mentorship and service to the global field of microbiome science.” This recognition aims to connect the Penn State community with leaders and visionaries who are shaping our world, according to Seth Bordenstein, director of the OHMC, professor of biology and of entomology and Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Microbiome Sciences.
“For 40 years, Professor Bosch has played one of the most formative roles in zoology, microbiology, symbiosis, neurobiology, stem cell biology, development and evolution as a thought leader and experimental maestro,” Bordenstein said.
Bosch has been instrumental in the development of the concept and literature on the holobiont, which views hosts plus their microbiome as unified functional units in the hierarchy of life’s organization, according to Bordenstein. His work in a simple, early-evolving aquatic organism demonstrated that host-specific microbiomes across related species and their interactions with the immune system are evolutionarily conserved. Bosch’s group has also worked extensively in investigating the molecular mechanisms of animal immortality. Unexpectedly but fascinatingly, Bordenstein said, expression of the immortality-related processes such as cellular repair and stress resistance are centrally connected to the microbiome and immunity.
Bosch also demonstrated bi-directional communication between neurons and the microbiome in a primitive nervous system. He discovered that host-secreted antimicrobial peptides shape the microbial community and, conversely, that the bacteria directly modulate the animal’s basic behavior like spontaneous body contractions. These findings reinforce that microbiomes are not just incidental passengers of their hosts, but integral parts of their development and physiology, Bordenstein said.
In addition, Bosch has made significant contributions to scientific understanding of the origin of cancer and improved treatment of microbiome-related diseases. Bosch is a member of the board of the Microbiota Vault Initiative, a global effort to preserve and research microbial diversity in the face of substantial biodiversity loss. In 2016, he was appointed as a senior fellow to the think tank Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and from 2016-23, he served as the founding director of the Collaborative Research Center for Origin and Function of Metaorganisms. He was president of the German Society of Developmental Biology from 2016-17 and the editor in chief of the journal Zoology from 2008-21. He was awarded the highest science award of the German Zoological Society, the Karl-Ritter-von-Frisch-Medal, in 2022. Earlier this year, he was appointed as a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He also serves on the boards of numerous international scientific institutions and committees, including the Japanese Science and Technology Agency’s Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology.
“Professor Bosch’s career is an inspiration that decisively revealed an ancient, elemental unity of life between the animal and microbial worlds,” Bordenstein said, explaining that Bosch was selected to receive the inaugural Microbiome Medal in recognition of his contributions to the field of host-microbiome interactions, history of excellence in academic achievement and commitment to trainee mentorship and science communication for non-specialist audiences. “His science exquisitely uncovered profound facets across biology’s subdisciplines. Most importantly, he has gifted a new generation of scientists a profound sense of possibility and mandate: to look beyond the individual organism and understand the world as a complex, holobiont system. His work and mentorship are powerful invitations to young minds to embrace the biggest questions at the very roots of life and to make a positive impact on humanity.”
For more information and questions regarding accessibility, please contact OHMC research project manager Grace Deitzler (gdeitzler@psu.edu).
About the OHMC
As one of the largest and most active units in the field, the OHMC is on a global mission to define the future of health and build a legacy of contributions that promote the general welfare of humans, agriculture and the environment. Learn more on the OHMC website.