Presented by Julia Malkowski, ND, DC | November 4, 2026 at 12 PM Pacific

Gut microbial aging, intestinal barrier dysfunction, and chronic low-grade inflammation (inflammaging) are increasingly recognized as modifiable contributors to cognitive and functional decline. This session reviews how the gut microbiome changes with age, including loss of diversity and butyrate-producing taxa, and how these shifts weaken the mucosal barrier and increase zonulin and LPS translocation. It then follows the resulting inflammatory signal to the brain, where blood-brain barrier changes and neuroinflammation affect the hippocampus.

Attendees will learn which objective measures are available today (stool microbiome diversity and dysbiosis profiles, zonulin, hs-CRP) and how to incorporate these into practice. They will also learn how to apply evidence-based dietary, nutraceutical, and medication-review strategies in a rational sequence, with dosing limits and reassessment.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe age-associated changes in gut microbiome composition and diversity, including loss of butyrate producers, and how they relate to biological age.
• Explain how intestinal barrier dysfunction, zonulin, and LPS translocation contribute to inflammaging, neuroinflammation, and cognitive decline.
• Interpret stool microbiome diversity and dysbiosis profiles, zonulin, and hs-CRP in a patient with cognitive or functional decline and recognize the limits of these tests.
• Apply evidence-based dietary, nutraceutical, and medication-review strategies to restore microbial diversity and barrier integrity, including sequencing, dosing limits, and reassessment.

Presented by Heather Hydzik, ND | December 2, 2026 at 12 PM Pacific

Infertility affects up to 1 in 7 couples worldwide. One-third of cases are due to Polycystic Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS); male factor contributes in roughly half of couples; while 15 to 30% of cases are idiopathic. Beyond a standard workup, functional lab testing offers valuable complementary insight for couples struggling with infertility - leading to therapeutics to address contributing factors and health risks associated with infertility. This talk will cover well-known as well as emerging contributors to male and female infertility including oxidative stress, impaired methylation, insulin resistance, toxic burden, vaginal microbiome dysbiosis, and gut health. This type of workup can be especially beneficial for patients with PMOS, unexplained infertility, and as complementary care for patients utilizing Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).

Learning Objectives:

• Understand how a functional lab workup for fertility patients can add to the conventional testing already completed and which patients would be great candidates for this approach.
• Customize individualized assessment and testing protocols to provide actionable insights for each case, with options including vaginal dysbiosis testing, gut microbiome profiling, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) assessment, toxic and essential element analysis, metabolomic evaluation, oxidative stress assessment, and functional methylation evaluation.
• Interpret functional testing results to identify and address contributing factors to PMOS, poor sperm motility, recurrent miscarriage, and failed embryo transfer.