A paper recently came out in Cell Host & Microbe about how the microbes in our saliva and gut – like Rothia and Staphylococcus species – can degrade peanut allergens and reduce the severity of anaphylaxis. The researchers confirmed this with in vitro tests and in mice. Mice treated with the bacteria had milder reactions…
During pregnancy, a person’s body undergoes a lot of changes – hormone fluctuations, morning sickness, loosening joints and ligaments, and well, the obvious: growing a mini human. As a microbiologist, I’ve wondered about the microbiome. What changes have occurred in the vaginal microbiome? What do these changes mean? And can the vaginal microbiome be predictive…
For decades, the notion that bacteria living on our bodies outnumbered human cells 10 to 1 was popular among microbiologists and the public. Turns out, this estimation is wrong. In 2016, Ron Sender, Shai Fuchs, and Ron Milo from the Weizmann Institute examined the origins of this estimation and found that the ratio is actually…
Our intestine is home to three pounds of bacteria (in fact, we have about equal numbers of bacteria and human cells in the body). We feed them and they feed us. They help us break down proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates from our food into nutrients that we can then absorb. Without them, we would not…
By Kanika Khanna In this journey called life, we are not alone. We are inhabited by around 39 trillion microbial cells that account for ~57% of all cells in our body, making us half human and half microbes. This consortium of microbial species (including bacteria, fungi, viruses, and archaea) is referred to as the ‘human…