Who are you? Event guests take a quiz to learn more about their microbiomes

Get up-close and personal with your microbiome.

That was the opportunity presented to people from the Ottawa area, when Nature Nocturne, the Canadian Museum of Nature’s flagship after-hours event, partnered with University of Calgary researchers.

Dr. Laura Sycuro, PhD, a microbiome researcher and assistant professor at the Cumming School of Medicine, created a microbiome-themed personality quiz for the event to determine each person's “microbiality.” Event guests answered questions about their diet, childhood, and day-to-day life, to gain knowledge about how their experiences and habits are tied to their microbes.

The quiz funneled guests into one of five categories: Ancestral and Earthy, Compelling and Contemporary, Adventurous and Unsettled, Disciplined and Serene, or Productive and Uninhibited. Our scientists then gave guests printed cards outlining the unique details of their microbiality, providing insight on what their microbes are saying about them.

Talk about your microbiome

The quiz was a fun, interactive way to get conversations about the microbiome started. Guests engaged with our scientists to learn more about the importance of their microbiome, where their microbes are found, how they interact within us, and how incredible new microbiome discoveries are redefining notions of human health.

• Learn more about the microbiome and the research underway at the University of Calgary here.

To amplify the UCalgary connections, Dr. Ed McCauley, PhD, president and vice-chancellor at the University of Calgary hosted the first alumni event in Ottawa encouraging our former students to take the quiz and come out and network. Canada’s capital is home to almost 1,600 UCalgary alumni.

UCalgary is the proud knowledge sponsor of the Canadian Museum of Nature exhibit, Me and My Microbes: the Zoo Inside You. This insightful exhibition from the American Museum of Natural History runs until March 29, 2020.

Dr. Laura Sycuro, PhD, is an assistant professor, in the departments of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Cumming School of Medicine and a member of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute.

The University of Calgary is uniquely positioned to find solutions to key global challenges. Through the research strategy for Infections, Inflammation, and Chronic Diseases in the Changing Environment (IICD), top scientists lead multidisciplinary teams to understand and prevent the complex factors that threaten our health and economies.

The International Microbiome Centre at the University of Calgary is a translational research centre designed to investigate the microbiome of humans, plants, animals and the physical environment. Together, world-class microbiome researchers, advanced technologies and relationship building are positioned to spark ground-breaking discoveries that harness the healing power of the microbiome.