Microbiome
Washington University School of Medicine is leading the way in the study of the microbiome, the group of microbes that live in and on us and that outnumber our own human cells 10 to 1. With impacts on what nutrients we absorb, how our brains develop, and whether we develop life-threatening infections, these microbes are revealing just how important they are in our lives.
Our talented group of physicians and researchers are helping to unlock these microbes’ secrets and bring a new understanding of their effects on us from birth on.
Priorities
- Gut microbiome and diet (e.g. probiotics, breastfeeding), obesity, malnutrition, brain development, antibiotic resistance
- Sequencing the human microbiome/virome to characterize healthy and diseased states
People
Diet/Malnutrition
- Jeffrey Gordon, MD (diet/lifestyle and gut microbiota – twin studies, gut microbiome from birth on – including breastfeeding and gut colonization, malnutrition)
- Mark Manary, MD (malnutrition in Malawi/Africa) Indi Trehan, MD (malnutrition/global child health)
Antibiotic resistance
- Gautam Dantas, PhD (gut microbes and antibiotic resistance)
Virome
- Gregory Storch, MD (virome/viral tests in children and adults) Kristine Wylie, PhD (viral metagenomics)
Sequencing
- Makedonka Mitreva, PhD (Human Microbiome Project, metagenomics/cataloging microbial genomes)
- Todd Wylie (viral metagenomics, bioinformatics)
Preterm infants
- Phillip Tarr, MD (Necrotizing Enterocolitis – NEC – and gut microbes in preterm infants)
- Barbara Warner, MD (gut microbes in preterm infants)
Immunity
- Herbert “Skip” Virgin, MD, PhD (microbiome, immunity and disease)
Clinical
- Matthew Ciorba, MD (probiotics and gut diseases/radiation treatment, microbiome and the brain)
- Parag Parikh, MD (probiotics and cancer radiation treatment
- Erik Dubberke, MD (fecal transplants and C. difficile infections)
Collaborations
- Gordon/Manary/Trehan (fighting malnutrition in Malawi)
- Storch/Mitreva/Wylie and McDonnell Genome Institute (sequencing and cataloging microbes, viruses)
- Tarr/Warner (gut microbes in preterm infants)
- Ciorba/Parikh (Gastroenteroogy/oncology, probiotics and radiation therapy clinical trial)
Centers
- Center for Genome Sciences & Systems Biology (Jeffrey Gordon, MD, director)
- Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research (Jeffrey Gordon, MD, director)
- The Elizabeth H. and James S. McDonnell III Genome Institute (Richard K. Wilson, PhD, director; Makedonka Mitreva, PhD, assistant director, microbial metagenomics)
Funding
- Current NIH funding at the School of Medicine for microbiome research totals more than $10M and includes
- Infectious disease and the microbiome: $1.5M
- Gut microbiome: $2.9M
- Pediatric microbiome/virome: $3.6
- Human microbiome: $2.5M
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation $8.3M grant to Jeffrey Gordon to fight childhood malnutrition
- Mars Inc. gift for Center for Gut Microbiome and Nutrition Research $?M
- NIH Human Microbiome Project $19M grant
News
Features
- Going viral: One new test detects all likely suspects – Outlook (winter 2015-16)
- Cultivating gut microbes to shape health and treat disease – Innovate (fall 2014)
- Researchers tackle malnutrition on many fronts – The Source (9/7/15)
Selected In the News
- The weight loss enemy within: Bacteria – Newsweek (1/17/16)
- Great Gut Extinction: Has modern life destroyed our health? – BBC News (5/3/15)
- When Food Isn’t Enough: Gut Bugs Affect Malnutrition, Too, Study Finds – NBC News (6/5/14)
- Jeffrey Gordon: Gut Microbes And Children Under Nutrition (video) – TEDx Gateway Arch talk (2/15/14)
- Malnourished Gain Lifesaver in Antibiotics – New York Times (1/30/13)
Selected News Releases
- In very ill, probiotics don’t prevent ‘superbugs’ from settling in intestinal tract (8/27/15)
- Gut microbes targeted for diagnosis, treatment of childhood undernutrition (2/25/15)
- New center aims to use gut microbiome discoveries to improve human nutrition (11/6/14)
- Gut bacteria can cause life-threatening infections in preterm babies (3/19/14)
- Altering mix of gut microbes prevents obesity, but diet remains key factor (9/5/13)
- Census of microbes in healthy humans reported (6/13/12)
- $19 million to WU scientists to decode microbe DNA and explore links to disease (6/23/2009)
Clinical trials
Fecal transplants
- Microbiota Restoration Therapy for Recurrent Clostridium Difficile Infection (PUNCH CD 2)
- Autologous Fecal Therapy
Probiotics and radiation therapy
Probiotics and pediatric gastroenteritis
Impact of diet on children from Malawi
- The Impact of Legumes vs Corn-soy Flour on Environmental Enteric Dysfunction in Rural Malawian Children 6-11 Months
- The Impact of Legumes vs Corn-soy Flour on Environmental Enteric Dysfunction in Rural Malawian Children 1-3 Year Olds
Images/visual themes
Need permission from Innovate/Anne Makeever to use:
NIAID Flickr photos of microbes:
CDC antibiotic resistance report (pdf):
Antibiotic resistant microbes from CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/media/dpk/2013/dpk-untreatable.html#graphics
See also: CDC microbe images at Public Health Image Library (use keywords: Electron, Micrograph)
NHGRI microbe image (in Cumulus: microbes_gpc.psd):
Rob RostonThe microbe Enterococcus faecalis lives in the gut along with hundreds of other species that contribute to our health. Credit: Eric Young.
Mark Manary photo (the Source):
Mark Manary, MD, has worked in Malawi for decades on projects to prevent and treat malnutrition.
Barbara Warner, MD, (left) and nurse Laura Linneman, a clinical research coordinator, check on Skylar Angel in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Skylar and her twin, Bayley, were born prematurely. Warner is co-first author of a Washington University School of Medicine study reporting that the population of bacteria in the intestinal tracts of premature infants may depend more on the babies’ biological makeup and gestational age at birth than on environmental factors. (Credit: E. Holland Durando)
Card sort: https://trello.com/b/Yevlqw6J/master-microbiome-key-strengths
