White House Begins New National Microbiome Initiative To Understand Benefits Of Bacteria


Techtimes

HEALTH
White House Begins New National Microbiome Initiative To Understand Benefits Of Bacteria
By Catherine Cabral-Isabedra | May 14, 2016 08:34 AM EDT LikeFollowShare(?)Tweet(?)Reddit0
Microbiomes

The White House announced the launch of a new National Microbiome Initiative. The program will bring together scientists from different organizations to study human microbiomes and how they can address several diseases. (Photo : Gerd Altmann | Pixabay)
In an attempt to understand the riddles of science, the White House will now begin a National Microbiome Initiative, a program that aims to unify all microbe culture research.

In October 2015, more than 40 scientists from different scientific backgrounds came together and proposed the creation of a Unified Microbiome Initiative Consortium (UMIC). The initiative would bring together cutting-edge research and discoveries that
would benefit health care, the environment and even create renewable energy.

"Microbes are everywhere," said Pamela Silver, a Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering researcher. "Therefore understanding microbiomes, whther they be the ones that live in and on our bodies or the ones in the environment, is
essential to understanding life."

The White House announced the initiative on May 13 to jumpstart microbe research that would encompass all those that are found in animals, air, plants, soil and water. The government is hoping that gaining more information would give insight into how to
fight disease, increase food production, and fight climate change.


The National Microbiome Initiative (PDF) will work with other organizations interested in the research, including University of Michigan and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), One Codex, The BioCollective, the University of California, and
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The program will have a total of $521 million in funding, with $121 million from the federal government and $400 million funding from private organizations.


While most people think that bacteria cause decay and death, there exists a huge trove of good microbes that are essential to human existence. White House Office of Science and Technology associate director for science Jo Handelsman explained that life
on land became possible because ancient ocean-dwelling microbes released oxygen into the atmosphere.


Handelsman explained that humans need bacteria to survive.

"We wouldn't be here without these bacteria," said Handelsman. "Our health, our behavior and even our longevity are all affected by these bacteria."

Alterations in human microbiomes cause diseases, including allergies, asthma, autism, diabetes, and even obesity, said Microbiology Professor Martin Blaser, who also serves as director of the New York University Langone Medical Center's Human Microbiome
Program. When people take antibiotics to cure diseases, good bacteria is also eliminated along with the bad bacteria.

Scientists still need to learn from these microbiomes.

A Tech Times' report has stated about 99.999 percent of the 1 trillion microbial species in the world are yet to be discovered.

With the program, the scientists are hoping to map the microbes, alter them, and identify how it can help address some of the maladies that affect human existence.

Some experts believe that understanding microbiomes could also help solve crimes. Forensic scientists can use the microbial trail left by people as they go to places, much like how detectives solve crime using DNA and fingerprints left behind by
criminals.


LikeFollowShare(?)Tweet(?)Reddit0
Ads by Revcontent
Trending Today

Partner With The World's Fastest Growing Native Ad Network
Sign Up With Revcontent To Drive High-Quality Traffic To Your Site
Get Premium Traffic Across All Devices with Revcontent
Scale Your Content Across All Devices With Revcontent
Revcontent Dominates Content Recommendation with Massive Innovation

RELATED STORIES
US Scientists Call For National Initiative On Microbiome Research
99.999 Percent Of Earth's 1 Trillion Microbial Species Remain Undiscovered: Scientists



http://www.techtimes.com/articles/158178/20160514/white-house-begins-new-national-microbiome-initiative-to-understand-benefits-of-bacteria.htm

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)