A huge community of great importance
The meeting of our expert with high school students was held under the auspices of WUM. The main focus was on the microbiota and the role it plays in our body.
"Each niche in our body which has contact with the outside world, i.e., the intestines, oral cavity, vagina or the skin, has its own microbiota," said Prof. Jakub Piwowarski. "It is a community consisting primarily of bacteria, but also of viruses, fungi and protists. It is believed that the condition of the microbiota affects many functions of our body."
The expert explained how the microbiota was related to our immune and nervous systems. He also emphasized its impact on the metabolism of drugs and toxins.
However, the listeners found one piece of information particularly surprising, i.e., that as much as 20–50% of all cells of our body belong to the intestinal microbiome. This is related to the concept of the so-called holobiont. According to the concept, humans are holobionts, which means organisms that are not fully autonomous. This is due to the immensity of bacteria and other microorganisms that inhabit our body.
"Experts" from the Internet
When speaking of the microbiota and the latest treatments that use it, Prof. Piwowarski warned the listeners not to trust Instagram or TikTok "specialists". He emphasized that such people are often not medically educated, and propose, for example, "antifungal treatments" or "therapies", thanks to which parasites can allegedly be eliminated.
“It's a scam, of course. It is like suggesting that we can “cure” autism with the use of probiotics. This is not supported by any research." emphasized the lecturer.
Professor Piwowarski also revealed the backstage of scientific work. He described how ideas for projects and research are born, based on the example of the Microbiota Lab study on the microbiota of dog skin. The starting point involved the observation that the skin of dogs does not emit an unpleasant smell, even though dogs do not get washed, and then the question: why is it so?
Observing reality and asking questions is the role of a researcher. High school students also asked questions. They inquired about the links between the microbiota and depression, about intestinal microbiota transplantation, but also about how pharmacy is studied at WUM.
We hosted 50 high school students at the fifth lecture of this year's Patronage Program. They were students of two Warsaw high schools under the WUM patronage: Władysław IV High School No. and Stefan Żeromski XL High School with the Bilingual Program. The lecture was held on April 16, 2026, in the main lecture hall of the Faculty of Pharmacy.
