Human Microbiome Project I

Dear Friends

In 2012, we have completed HMP I.  Now it’s on to HMP II. What the heck am I talking about?  Glad you asked!

The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) consortium in 2012 completed their five year plan (HMP I) to put in place the groundworkings of technologies and research to provide a platform from which to dive into the mysteries of interplay between our human cells and our microbial cells, whom when our health is good, exist as friends and fellow soldiers, fighting the good fight to keep our bodies well. How can we use the genomic power of the microbiome to heal us?  Representing a gene pool 100 fold that of our own human cells, how can we proactively influence all that gene power to be used to our healthful advantage? Where do probiotics come in?  Which probiotics? When? These questions and many more will be answered in HMP II.

On June 14, Nature along with PLoS came out with two major consortium papers on the human microbiome resulting from their five years of research.  These were followed by 20+ companion studies published in prestigious journals.  They highlighted a broad analysis of the microbiomes of over 200 healthy adult men and women, the largest such study to date.  So this is definately a time and the season for us to give a toast to their grounding breaking, paradigm shifting, utterly amazing work.

Thanks to YouTube, we have a recording of a live broadcast back in June of a public meeting where some of the key research luminaries are sharing, in a panel discussion format, via questions and answers, highlights on some of the findings for their landmark studies.  It is worth watching.  One realizes how much we know and at the same time how little we know when it comes to the microbiome of the human body.

On the panel representating the NIH/HMP consortium are Lita Proctor PhD from the National Human Genome Research Institute/NIH, Rob Knight PhD from the University of Colorado, Rick Bushman PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, Janet Jansson PhD from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Univeristy of California (Berkeley), Larry Forney PhD from the University of Idaho, Ashlee Earl PhD from the Broad Institute and moderator Stanley Maloy PhD from San Diego State University.  Here my friends it is:  The Latest News from the Human Microbiome Project.

So, I’ll stop myself here from expanding on the points they made, and simply point you in the direction of the link above.  It really is worth looking at, even a couple of times, as it’s even better the second time if you know what I mean. Why not hear it first hand.

One of the closing questions from the audience was, “you have a lot of data about sequences but how do we go about relating sequences to function?”  One of the panalists jokingly said, “Well, that’s a question for HMP II.”  It’s true, they are seeing a lot of genes in this massive pool of sequences in the digestive tract, and the work to know if those genes are expressed or not, is truly the next step.  This takes us back to the field of proteomics and looking at the interplay of proteins in the mileau of our bodies ecosystems.  That without question is one of the lead-edge waves of medical research that will be hitting our shores.  It should be very exciting.
Sincerely yours,
Seann Bardell

Clinical Note:

The Last Quiz Answer:

This gorgeous creature, the red-sided garter snake of the Interlake Region of Manitoba Canada, is one of between 100,000 to 150,000 just emerging simulateiously from their winter dens in late Spring—a swarming mass of snakes, making for one of the world’s largest congregation of any vertebrate species.

As an undergraduate in zoology, we had a garter snake in a big aquarium, living with a rattlesnake and a big king snake.  An amazing thing happened one afternoon as a bunch of us students were watching the snakes. The rattlesnake decide to eat the garter snake, swallowing it head first.  Apparently the king snake thought it was a good idea and swallowed the garter snake tail first.  So there they were, the rattle snake and king snake slowly ingorging the poor garter snake and moment by moment drawing closer to each other—kind of a game of chicken.  We wondered what would be happening when they met in the middle.  What do you think?  As we all watched in amazement, including our professor, the two diners got within an inch of each other, and then all of a sudden the rattle snake began disgorging his prey.  The King snake was the winner.  Snakes are carnivores, and obviously they can be cannibalistic too.

It is the Christmas Season. See in the video below the most precious gift we can give?

“Come rain or shine, 88-year-old Bermudian Johny Barnes devotes 6 hours every day to an endearing traffic ritual that has made him one of the islands most cherished citizens- Click on Mr. Happy Man.”                    

©2005 – 2012 BioImmersion Inc. All Rights Reserved