Every year, the Future of the Microbiome Summit brings together the scientists, clinicians, and industry professionals whose work is laying the foundation for a deeper understanding of the microbiome. With the field evolving quickly, by the time a finding gets to the main stage, the researchers doing the most interesting work have moved on. And some research is quite preliminary, and needs further development before having broader commercial applicability. This summit is built to close both gaps and we want to hear from you.

What Is the Winter Summit?

A 3-day virtual conference drawing researchers, product developers, formulators, investors, retail buyers, and health practitioners from across the natural products and life sciences industries. Many of them are making sourcing, formulation, and investment decisions right now, based on where the science is heading.

Past presenters have come from Stanford University, the Institute for Systems Biology, UC Davis, the University of South Florida, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and University College Cork, alongside founders, clinicians, and applied scientists putting that science to work in products and practice.

Who Are We Looking For?

Research presentations: For scientists and clinicians presenting original findings, novel mechanisms, or emerging data. Postdoctoral and graduate research is welcome and encouraged.

Industry/applied presentations:  For practitioners, founders, and applied scientists presenting real-world applications, formulation insights, or market-level observations grounded in evidence.

What's Included?
  • A speaking slot at a multi-day virtual summit with direct exposure to industry professionals, investors, and practitioners actively tracking the science
  • Inclusion in all marketing and your presentation recorded and archived

Topic Areas for 2026:

Tools and Technologies
  • Bioinformatics and next-gen sequencing
  • Metabolic modeling of microbial communities
  • Microbiome variability and personalized response
Postbiotics
  • Mechanisms of action and bioavailability
  • Standardization clarity and characterization solutions
  • Ingredient-specific clinical applications: gut, immune, skin, metabolic including formulation considerations
Prebiotics
  • Novel substrates, ‘precision prebiotics’, emerging candidates as well as novel and established types
  • Dose-response variability and population differences
  • Next-generation prebiotic identification
Gut-Brain and Neurological Health
  • Gut-brain axis mechanisms
  • Cognitive function, mood, and neurodegeneration
Systemic Health Connections
  • Gut-immune interplay
  • GLP-1, metabolic health, and weight management
  • Women’s health and cardiometabolic implications
Early Life and Environmental Factors
  • Infant and pediatric microbiome
  • Environmental disruption of the microbiome
Functional Foods, Pet and Medical Foods Applications
  • Fermented foods, upcycling

Have something that doesn't fit neatly into the above?

If your work is pointing toward where the field is going, make the case, we're open.

How to Submit:

Tell us your name, affiliation, proposed presentation title, and a 200–300 word summary of what you’d cover and why it belongs at this summit.

Submissions close August 14, 2026. Selected speakers will be notified by August 31st. The summit runs November 17-19th, 2026.

Questions: steve@itcstrategy.com

2026 Abstract Submission
Please submit your abstract for oral presentations and panel discussions.