Health and Our Microbiome
This project is supported by the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Living in and on us, microbes make up 70 to 90 percent of all cells in our bodies—our microbiome—and our health depends upon them. What makes some of these bacteria benign and others cause disease, like antibiotic-resistant superbugs? What are the health effects of antibiotic overuse, and how can we restore depleted microbiomes? What can we learn from sequencing the DNA of these extraordinarily diverse ecosystems, and from the microorganism communities around us—our macrobiomes? The answers have fascinating and critically important implications for how we track pathogens, prevent disease, and stay healthy.
This project is supported by the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).