The Microbiome Insights team was pleased to visit Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing on Emory University campus in August to lead a 2-day workshop on methods for microbiome analysis: both 16S rRNA gene sequencing and shotgun metagenomics. With a growing awareness that microbiome analysis may...
New study helps disentangle gut microbiome signature of obesity versus type 2 diabetes
October 16, 2019/by Bradley van ParidonObesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) often occur together, and metabolic disease is linked to alterations in the gut microbiome but the changes associated uniquely with obesity versus T2D have been unclear. However, data now show that obesity along with medications and supplements like...
Experts publish summary on microbiome contributions to age-related diseases and possible interventions to support healthy aging
October 3, 2019/by Bradley van ParidonRapidly aging populations and the increasing prevalence of age-related diseases are issues facing many societies. While aging is a complex and not fully understood process, the microbiome and diet are receiving attention as potential ways to support healthy aging.
Mohn Lab uncovers gut microbiome differences in 3-month-old infants who go on to develop allergic disease
August 7, 2019/by Bradley van ParidonThe inability of some infant microbiomes to perform carbohydrate metabolism may be a factor in the development of allergies later in life. Metagenomic analysis of the microbiomes of human infants who went on to develop allergies revealed a lack of genes encoding for carbohydrate breakdown and...
Landmark study tracks how microorganisms and metabolites change over time in inflammatory bowel disease
July 15, 2019/by Bradley van ParidonAn ambitious new study followed 132 patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) for one year, in order to generate longitudinal molecular profiles of host and microbial activity. In doing so it captured the most comprehensive description to date of host and microbe activities in IBD.
PRESS RELEASE: New Study Finds Key Factors That Shape the Skin Microbiome, Including Age and Lifestyle Choices
July 2, 2019/by Malcolm KendallA skin microbiome study undertaken by Amway in collaboration with Microbiome Insights has now been published in the scientific journal mBio. The study, which enrolled 495 people (aged 9 to 78) who provided over 2500 skin swab samples, was the largest survey of the healthy human skin microbiome ever...
Microbiome experts describe how to uncover contributions of microbial communities to climate change and ecosystem stability
June 24, 2019/by Bradley van ParidonThe roles of complex microbial communities in soil and ocean environments is a relatively new area of inquiry, spurred on by the same advances in sequencing technology that have revealed the importance of human microbiomes in health. With emerging data, the importance of these microbial communities...
Mouse study highlights role of NOD2 gene in gut microbiota resilience following antibiotics
May 24, 2019/by Bradley van ParidonNew investigations using a gene knockout mouse model showed that neonatal exposure to antibiotics had a long-lasting effect on both the microbial community and mucosal immunity in the gut. The data also shone light on how the Nod2 gene alters the risk of inflammatory disease.
New work shows gut microbial taxa might vary, but function is stable in people with Crohn's disease in remission
April 17, 2019/by Bradley van ParidonThe numbers, types, and functions of gut microbes and the molecules they produce vary greatly over time and between individuals; however, there is new evidence showing that the metabolic function these microbes perform is conserved in some cases. This new data comes from an analysis of the gut...
Microbiome Insights scientific advisory board member Curtis Huttenhower contributes to research identifying thousands of new human microbiome species
February 27, 2019/by Bradley van ParidonThousands of new microbial species making up the human microbiome have been identified from metagenome samples collected around the world. By reconstructing the microbial genomes found in over 9000 metagenome datasets, the microbial genomes of the unnamed species extend the knowledge of the human...