The Oral Microbiome is Critical in Understanding Health and Disease
Posted 30th October 2017 by Jane Williams
New understanding of the microbiome is changing ideas about health and is pertinent to our thinking about the role of the oral microbiome in systemic disease. This article gives an overview of the oral microbiome, while next week’s will focus on dysbiosis and associated illness.
Yesterday 150 Species Became Extinct
Posted 23rd October 2017 by Jane Williams
More accurately, between 150 and 200 species of plant, insect, bird or mammal go extinct every day.
These species are ones that we can see. We have no idea what the global extinction rate is for microbes and very few people have even thought about it.
Taking on the Cum Hoc and Post Hoc fallacies in Microbiome
Posted 14th September 2017 by Jane Williams
“We need a shift from correlation to causation to support further progress,” says Weizmann Institute of Science’s Eran Elinav, echoing a widely espoused sentiment in the microbiome space. “We spent the first decade finding associations of microbiota with different clinical indications, but now we are discovering that only some of these are phenotypes that are caused by changed microbiota,” adds Elinav who is also scientific co-founder of Israel-based BiomX and DayTwo.
Microbiome Research and Development: An Open Letter From Sarkis Mazmanian
Posted 6th September 2017 by Jane Williams
Dear Colleagues,
The concept of the gut-brain axis (GBA) has been around for some time. Yet, the idea that the gut microbiota could regulate the GBA is relatively recent.
Book Review: Dirt is Good
Posted 1st September 2017 by Jane Williams
Dirt Is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System
Authors: Jack Gilbert and Rob Knight (with Sandra Blakeslee)
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (June 2017)
ISBN-13: 9781250132604
Monogenic Autoimmune Disorders Display Gut Microbial Dysbiosis
Posted 28th August 2017 by Jane Williams
Image credit: NIAID, Flickr, licensed under CC BY 2.0
Autoimmune diseases are an outcome of a dysfunctional immune system. Most common autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), are polygenic autoimmune disorders. However, several monogenic autoimmune disorders have been identified.
The Big List of Microbiome Companies and Investors
Posted 14th July 2017 by Jane Williams
A critical point in any field of research is that of commercialisation; when research builds to the point that the dam bursts, bottlenecks open and opportunities are ripe. 2016 saw the largest peak in microbiome investment since 2012 when the CRISPR-Cas9 ‘instructions’ were published.
Is the Medical World Ready for Faecal Transplantation as a Therapeutic Option?
Posted 7th July 2017 by Jane Williams
The gut microbiota has become a favourite “organ” of the biomedical community, with the number of publications on different aspects of its architecture and function rising exponentially in the last few years. In part fuelled by advances in DNA sequencing technology, multiple studies have been conducted in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) related diseases (IBD, Coeliac, etc.) (1, 2).