GY007: A Baker's Yeast That Eats Galactose, with Dr. Judy Fridovich-Keil and Dr. Shauna Rasmussen

In this episode, Ryan sits down with two veterans of the show — Dr. Judy Fridovich-Keil and Dr. Shauna Rasmussen, both of Emory University — to walk through a recent study from their lab in collaboration with a small biotech called GutsyBio. The study tested whether a specially selected strain of baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), called GY007, could break down dietary galactose in the gut before it ever reaches the bloodstream. In the rat model, it worked: rats that received the yeast before being given galactose did not show the same Gal-1-P or galactitol spikes in plasma and brain that the untreated rats did.