Get to Know the Human Microbiome

A generation ago, microbiologists were poorly acquainted with microbiomes. There is now a considerable amount of research being conducted into the human microbiome, with the specific objective of understanding how our body interacts with the mass of microbes that use our bodies as their home.

Rapidly developing sequencing methods and analytical techniques are enhancing our ability to understand the human microbiome, and, indeed, how we define the microbiome and its constituents. In this review we highlight recent research that expands our ability to understand the human microbiome on different spatial and temporal scales, including daily timeseries datasets spanning months. Furthermore, we discuss emerging concepts related to defining operational taxonomic units, diversity indices, core versus transient microbiomes and the possibility of enterotypes. Additional advances in sequencing technology and in our understanding of the microbiome will provide exciting prospects for exploiting the microbiota for personalized medicine.

We aren’t just single individuals walking the planet: we’re walking ecosystems. And like our planet, the human body has many different environments, each with a unique set of biotic and abiotic factors.

Click here for more info about Microbiome Research from Hudson Robotics. Based out of Springfield, NJ.

“Microbiome” is such a hot term these days.  And one key question many ask is “what does it mean?”  A related question is – “where did the term come from?” I tried to tackle this many years ago on my blog with a post: The human microbiome – term being used in many ways – but at least it is getting some press.  Basically my main point was that it seemed that the term “microbiome” then should be used to refer to the collection of genomes of microbes in a system and that “microbiota” should be used to refer to the collection of organisms.  Some key quotes from that post:

The full array of microorganisms (the microbiota) that live on and in humans and, more specifically, the collection of microbial genomes that contribute to the broader genetic...