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The Microbiome Medicine Roundtable
A structured, mechanism-first synthesis process that takes a disease area and produces a unified framework, risk stratification model, and novel intervention candidates, published as a peer-reviewable journal issue with DOIs.
The Roundtable is not a literature review, a consensus panel, or a brainstorming session. It is a formalized reasoning process that enforces mechanistic discipline, cross-domain integration, and explicit causal sequencing. Every conceptual advance must generate testable predictions. Speculative ideas are allowed only insofar as they remain biologically constrained and falsifiable.
Case study: Volume I, Issue I
Parkinson's Disease Edition
The inaugural Microbiome Medicine Roundtable focused on Parkinson's disease. Two participants (Karen Pendergrass and Kimberly Eyer) worked through a series of structured discussions that produced five interlinked papers, a novel unifying framework, and a therapeutic hypothesis that had never been proposed before.
A unified metal-driven model linking ferroptosis, dysbiosis, and α-synuclein pathology, positioning heavy metal dyshomeostasis as the initiating event.
A pigmentation-based susceptibility hypothesis connecting MC1R genetics, neuromelanin composition, and iron sequestration capacity to differential PD risk.
Melanotan peptides as MC1R agonists to bias neuromelanin toward eumelanin, enhance metal sequestration, and reduce ferroptosis susceptibility. First time proposed in literature.
Five papers with DOIs published in the Microbiome Medicine Journal, Volume I, Issue I. Print-ready journal edition produced.
How the Roundtable works
A Roundtable engagement begins with a target condition or disease area selected by the commissioning organization. The Roundtable team (led by Karen Pendergrass, with domain-specific collaborators drawn from the Microbiome Medicine network) executes a structured reasoning process over a defined period.
The process follows the Microbiome Signature Triangulation Method: metallomic analysis first, then microbial functional profiling, ecosystem reconstruction, vulnerability mapping, intervention hypothesis generation, and evidence triangulation. Every step produces a documented output. Contradictions trigger model revision, not dismissal.
The final deliverable is not a slide deck or a consulting report. It is a set of published, citable papers with DOIs, compiled into a journal edition. This means the commissioning organization receives not just strategic insight but publishable intellectual property that their scientific advisory board, investors, and regulatory teams can reference.
What you receive
Unified mechanistic framework
A published paper positioning the upstream drivers of the target condition, integrating metallomics, microbiology, immunology, and clinical data into a single falsifiable model.
Risk stratification model
A mechanistic risk stratification framework identifying which patient subpopulations are most vulnerable and why, with testable biomarker predictions.
Novel intervention candidates
One or more intervention hypotheses generated directly from the mechanistic framework, with defined translational endpoints for preclinical and clinical evaluation.
Roundtable methodology paper
A published commentary documenting the reasoning process, making the intellectual chain of custody transparent and reproducible.
Published journal issue
All outputs compiled into a print-ready edition of the Microbiome Medicine Journal with DOIs registered through Zenodo, suitable for citation and institutional use.
Who commissions a Roundtable
Pharmaceutical and biotech companies seeking to understand the microbiome dimension of their therapeutic area, identify novel targets, or evaluate pipeline candidates against ecological models.
Clinical research organizations designing microbiome-informed trial protocols or needing mechanistic frameworks to guide biomarker selection and endpoint design.
Foundations and nonprofits funding disease research who want a unified framework to guide grant allocation and identify the highest-leverage research gaps.
Investor groups evaluating microbiome-adjacent companies who need independent mechanistic analysis of whether a company's approach is ecologically coherent.
Engagement structure
Each Roundtable is scoped to a single condition or disease area. Engagement duration is typically 8 to 12 weeks. Pricing is based on scope, complexity, and the number of collaborators required. Roundtable engagements start at $75,000.
All engagements begin with a complimentary 30-minute scoping call to determine fit, define the condition focus, and establish deliverable expectations.
Schedule a scoping callReady to commission a Roundtable?
The next available Roundtable slot opens on a rolling basis. If your organization works at the intersection of microbiome science, metallomics, or translational medicine, I want to hear from you.