Microbiomes – News and Features

A growing amount of evidence proposes that several types of cancer are more common in overweight or obese people and that cancer risk is increased in those with higher body fat.

Our genes contribute very little to the makeup of our gut microbiota and lifestyle is far more important, suggests a study from the Weizmann Institute of Science.

The metabolome is exquisitely sensitive to our physiology, sitting at the interface of our genome and environment. Developing handheld devices that enable people to monitor themselves for changes in their metabolites that can predict future disease will empower them to take charge of their own healthcare, transforming medicine.

Sepsis occurs when the body's response to the spread of bacteria or toxins to the bloodstream damages tissues and organs. The fight against sepsis could get a helping hand from a surprising source: gut bacteria. Researchers found that giving mice particular microbes increased blood levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies, which protected against the kind of widespread bacterial invasion that leads to sepsis.

The common vampire bat has adapted to a diet that is low in nutrients and exposes the animal to a broad range of blood-borne diseases, reveals a joint study of its genome and gut microbiome. Compared with nectar-feeding, fruit-eating, and meat-eating bats, the microbiome in vampire bats is completely distinct.

A huge new study has outlined what influences help create the incredibly diverse termite microbiome.

Researchers have published a study using an organ-on-a-chip (Organ Chip) model of the human gut that reveals the intestinal blood vessel cells may play an important part in radiation-induced intestinal injury, and it confirms that a potential radioprotective drug, dimethyloxaloylglycine (DMOG), suppresses the intestine’s responses to radiation injury.

Organ Chip technology using donor-derived human intestinal cells offers advantages over organoids and creates new opportunities for personalized medicine.

This article reviews some new developments in our knowledge of how our gut microbiota interacts with our genome.

Phages—viruses that infect bacteria—are abundant in the bacteria that inhabit the female bladder. This is good news, because phage could be used as alternative treatment when pathogenic bacteria become resistant to antibiotics.