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Title:  "Oral Microbial Dependencies and Human Health: The Black Queen Hypothesis Across Metabolic, Neurological, and Aging Landscapes"

Synopsis:

This lecture explores the Black Queen Hypothesis (BQH), an evolutionary theory that explains how microbes lose costly functions and become dependent on others within their communities, creating intricate metabolic interdependencies. We will discuss the relevance of BQH to host-oral microbe interactions, focusing on how microbial loss-of-function shapes metabolic disease and insulin resistance. The session will examine gut microbiota shifts due to exercise and aging, and highlight the role of probiotics in restoring epithelial barrier integrity to mitigate leaky gut and leaky gum (disease). Clinical applications will be reviewed, including prebiotic and probiotic interventions in Parkinson’s, Autism, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. The lecture will contrast “common goods” versus “spoiled goods” in microbial ecosystems, providing a framework for understanding microbial dependencies and therapeutic leverage points in chronic disease and aging.

Speaker Bio:

Mark L. Cannon is a Professor Emeritus and Attending Physician at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, and he is also a Retired Professor of Otolaryngology in the Division of Dentistry, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee. In addition to being the founder of Associated Dental Specialists of Long Grove (1981), he is the Research Coordinator of the Pediatric Dental residency program at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, and a member of both the International Association of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (Fellow and Diplomate).

Dr. Cannon has 45 years of experience in pediatric dentistry and has presented national and international lectures. Dr. Cannon has presented guest lectures at the University of Athens, Greece; Sao Paulista State University; UNESP, Aracatuba, Brazil; University of Texas- Houston, University of Alabama-Birmingham; University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Yonsei University; Beijing Medical University; CES (Medellin, Colombia) and at the University of Illinois, Chicago, Department of Pediatric Dentistry. He has had presentations to the following organizations: I.A.D.R./A.A.D.R., the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American Society of Dentistry for Children, Academy of Dental Materials, World Congress of Biological Materials, International Association of Pediatric Dentistry, Pediatric Dental Association of Asia, Australasian Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, World Congress of Preventive Dentistry, Mexican Association of Pediatric Dentistry and the European Association of Pediatric Dentistry. 

He lectures on many oral health topics, including evolutionary oral medicine, the gateway microbiomes, biological and bioactive dental materials (patent owner), probiotics, and all aspects of everyday Pediatric Oral and Systemic Health. He is a Master Fellow of the American Academy for Oral & Systemic Health, an Executive Board member, and was President (2023). Dr. Cannon has humbly accepted two invitations from the Karolinska Institutet, first to the Nobel Forum (2016) and secondly to the Nobel Assembly (2017). Most of all, Dr. Cannon is the proud father of five, all of whom are very accomplished, and a grandfather of six beautiful children.

Dr. Cannon is very involved with his family, with three sons and two daughters. The two oldest boys, Ryan and Christopher, were both US Army officers, and he is very proud of their service to our country. Ryan was a Captain assigned to the famous 101st Airborne, “Screaming Eagles,” and has served two overseas tours, including a tour stationed at F.O.B. Wolverine, Afghanistan. Ryan is now an Air Dispatch Controller working for United Airlines out of Chicago, IL. Middle son Christopher graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and was stationed out of Fort Drum, New York with the 10th Mountain Division. He was a Captain and aviator, flying Blackhawks assigned to the 10th Air Calvary, and served two tours in Afghanistan. Christopher is married to Amanda Glasgow. They have two beautiful daughters, Molly and Natalie. His older daughter, Andrea, graduated with honors from Northwestern University with a degree in Psychology. She now lives in the Minneapolis area and is married to Jim Thomson, who graduated from the Law School of the University of Minnesota at the top of his class. They have two sons, Henry and Luke, and Dr. Cannon greatly enjoys spending time with them.  His youngest daughter, Michelle, graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, majoring in Marketing. She then went to nursing school at Marian University to receive her RN degree and now lives in Dallas. She is a pediatric nurse at Dallas Children’s Hospital and is married to Steven Morris. They have a young son named Isaiah, who smiles all the time. His youngest son Keith graduated Magna Cum Laude from college in Paris, France, with his degree in mathematics and had an internship at the Microsoft Research-INRIA Joint Center just south of Paris. He received his graduate degree in physics from the London School of Economics and is now working on his Ph.D. in physics in New York City. Mathematics is still his passion.

Dr. Cannon has been involved in microbiome and hologenome research, especially using polyols to produce positive biofilm changes. The research has also concentrated on the epigenetic effect of microbiome shifts, bacterial metabolism's end products, and the microbiome shifts' neurologic consequences, such as with autism spectrum disorder. His current research is on prebiotics' potential treatment or preventive role in cancer. Dr. Cannon is a member of both the Simpson Quarry Epigenetic Group and the Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Research Institute. 

Dr. Cannon enjoys music, especially live, having had lessons in many different instruments, and really enjoys attending professional sporting events with his colleagues. He also works on restoring classic vehicles, always enjoying items of historical interest. Dr. Cannon fancies himself a good cook, especially barbeque, serving up famously smoked ribs. He also is quite a do-it-your-selfer, having spent so much time doing everything while working his own way through all those years in school. He is also a very proud grandfather of five, three boys and two girls! He loves traveling to see the grandkids.