From MIT Technology Review
Understanding Our Gut Microbes Could Lead to New Medicines
By studying the interactions between our bodies and our microbes, a startup hopes to find new ways of treating disease.
By Susan Young on September 6, 2013
The trillions of microbes that live in our bodies play an important role in our health and disease, but researchers have found that understanding this diverse and complex stew of bugs is daunting.
One company, Second Genome, has turned to DNA analysis and biochemical studies of mixtures of microbes and human cells in culture to better explain things. The company ultimately wants to identify therapeutics that restore balance to an off-kilter community by changing its composition or its effects on the human body.
The diversity of the human collection of microbial residents—known as the microbiome—became more clear last year when the Human Microbiome Project described the diversity and abundance of microbes living in and on the human body (see “Researchers Catalog Your Microbial Zoo”). For every one human cell in the body, there are an estimated 10 microbial cells. Changes in this microbial zoo have been correlated with many health problems: from gastrointestinal disease to diabetes, obesity, and inflammation.
Read more from MIT Technology Review >>
Understanding Our Gut Microbes Could Lead to New Medicines
By studying the interactions between our bodies and our microbes, a startup hopes to find new ways of treating disease.
By Susan Young on September 6, 2013
The trillions of microbes that live in our bodies play an important role in our health and disease, but researchers have found that understanding this diverse and complex stew of bugs is daunting.
One company, Second Genome, has turned to DNA analysis and biochemical studies of mixtures of microbes and human cells in culture to better explain things. The company ultimately wants to identify therapeutics that restore balance to an off-kilter community by changing its composition or its effects on the human body.
The diversity of the human collection of microbial residents—known as the microbiome—became more clear last year when the Human Microbiome Project described the diversity and abundance of microbes living in and on the human body (see “Researchers Catalog Your Microbial Zoo”). For every one human cell in the body, there are an estimated 10 microbial cells. Changes in this microbial zoo have been correlated with many health problems: from gastrointestinal disease to diabetes, obesity, and inflammation.
Read more from MIT Technology Review >>
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