Microbiomes are the communities of microorganisms that live on or in people, plants, soil, oceans, and the atmosphere. Microbiomes maintain healthy function of these diverse ecosystems, influencing human health, climate change, food security, and other factors. Although new technologies have enabled exciting discoveries about the importance of microbiomes, scientists still lack the knowledge and tools to manage microbiomes in a manner that prevents dysfunction or restores healthy function.
WID researchers are engaged in diverse microbiome projects like linking gut microbes to Alzheimers Disease and gene expression, understanding the implications of microbial diversity, and discovering new antibiotics.
The UW-Campus Microbiome Portal is a component of WID’s Multi-Omics Hub.
Systems Biology researcher Kalin Vetsigian and graduate student Ye Xu recently published findings in Nature’s Scientific Reports about the stochasticity of growth within Streptomycetes spore communities.
Jo Handelsman, director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, explores the importance of soil at the Crossroads of Ideas lecture series.
Microbiome researchers bring $8 million in awards annually, which initiative looks to increase through grants.
The podcast “Is DNA the Basis for all Life in the Universe?” produced by The Naked Scientists, an affiliate of the BBC at Cambridge University features John Denu speaking of his recent findings on how the gut microbiome affects DNA expression.
The upshot of the study from researchers in the Epigenetics theme at WID is another indictment of the so-called Western diet, high in saturated fats, sugar, and red meat.
Systems Biology researchers explore the importance of community history and assembly when considering microbial communities in a paper in Nature Communications.
The Epigenetics theme at WID is putting mass spectrometry to use in new ways with specialized workflows designed to uncover the mysteries of chromatin.
Kalin Vetsigian’s paper published today in Nature sheds light on how antibiotic production and degradation contribute to diversity in microbial communities.
Creating energy solutions for communities throughout the world poses serious challenges, but a group of WID Frontier Fellows thinks its alternative idea has a bright future.
