Sokol, Harry
Saint-Antoine Hospital. Paris, France
Dr. Harry Sokol, is Professor in the Gastroenterology department of the Saint Antoine Hospital (APHP, Paris, France) and is the head of the Gut Microbiota and Immunity lab (INSERM U1157/UMR CNRS 7203, Sorbonne Université, Paris and INRA Micalis). Harry Sokol is an internationally recognized expert in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and in gut microbiota fields. He published over 150 papers on these topics in major journals (including Gut, Gastroenterology, Cell Metabolism, Cell Host & Microbe, Nature communication, Nature Medicine). His work on the role of the gut microbiota in IBD pathogenesis led to landmark papers describing the IBD-associated dysbiosis (imbalance in gut microbiota composition) and the role of the pivotal commensal bacteria Faecalibacterium prausnitzii in gut homeostasis and in IBD. Currently, his work focuses on deciphering the gut microbiota-host interactions in health and diseases (particularly IBD), in order to better understand their role in pathogenesis and develop innovative treatments. Dr. Sokol is exploring particularly the role of the microbiota in tryptophan metabolism for which he is the recipient of an ERC grant. Beside basic science, he is also involved in translational research. He is the current president of the French group of fecal microbiota transplantation, he coordinated a pilot randomized control trial evaluating fecal microbiota transplantation in Crohn’s disease and he is currently coordinating a phase III nationwide randomized control trial evaluating fecal microbiota transplantation in ulcerative colitis.