BCMM are hosting a screening of The Invisible Extinction, followed by a virtual Q&A with the featured scientists Martin Blaser, MD, and Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, PhD, and the filmmakers Steven Lawrence and Sarah Schenck. The session will be moderated by Peter Turnbaugh, PhD (BCMM). This event is open to the entire UCSF community. 

The screening will occur in room N-217, Parnassus, and will begin at 3pm. The Q&A will follow the film screening, and will begin at 4:40pm.

Join us after the Q&A for refreshments. If you are not able to view the film at this time, you can pre-register to view the film on your own device during the viewing window (April 26-28).

Register to attend

Synopsis: Two globetrotting microbiologists, Gloria Dominguez-Bello and Marty Blaser, race to save our vanishing microbes before it’s too late.  The Invisible Extinction joins them on this urgent quest from the USA to Venezuela, China, Israel, and Switzerland, revealing how the overuse of antibiotics, elective C-sections, and processed foods are driving the destruction of our inner ecology, which is happening even faster than climate change.

At the same time, the film tells the stories of three patients, in the USA and China, who suffer from life-threatening diseases triggered by microbial loss and are trying experimental treatments that hold hope.  As the Covid-19 pandemic hits, Marty pivots to focus on how our microbes may help protect us from the virus and future pandemics, while Gloria spearheads the creation of an international microbe vault to safeguard precious specimens.