NIH Launches Human Microbiome Project
NIH Roadmap Effort to Use Genomic Technologies To Explore Role
of Microbes in Human Health and Disease
The human body contains trillions of microorganisms, living together
with human cells, usually in harmony. Because of their small size,
however, microorganisms make up only about one to two percent of
the body’s mass. Many microbes maintain our health, while others
cause illness. Yet, surprisingly little is known about the role
this astounding assortment of bacteria, fungi and other microbes
play in human health and disease. To better understand these interactions,
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced the official
launch of the Human Microbiome Project. The human microbiome is
the collective genomes of all microorganisms present in or on the
human body.
"The human microbiome is largely unexplored," said NIH
Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. "It is essential that we
understand how microorganisms interact with the human body to affect
health and disease. This project has the potential to transform
the ways we understand human health and prevent, diagnose and treat
a wide range of conditions."
Part of the NIH’s Roadmap for Medical Research, the Human Microbiome
Project will award a total of $115 million to researchers over
the next five years. Initially, researchers will sequence 600 microbial
genomes, completing a collection that will total some 1,000 microbial
genomes and providing a resource for investigators interested in
exploring the human microbiome. Other microbial genomes are being
contributed to the collection by individual NIH institutes and
internationally funded projects. A meeting between international
partners was recently convened to discuss forming an international
consortium.
Researchers will then use new, comprehensive laboratory technologies
to characterize the microbial communities present in samples taken
from healthy human volunteers, even for microbes that cannot be
grown in the laboratory. The samples will be collected from five
body regions known to be inhabited by microbial communities: the
digestive tract, the mouth, the skin, the nose, and the female
urogenital tract. Demonstration projects will subsequently be funded
to sample the microbiomes from volunteers with specific diseases.
This will allow researchers to correlate the relationship between
changes in a microbiome present at a particular body site to a
specific illness.
"We now understand that there are more microbial cells than human
cells in the human body. The Human Microbiome Project offers an
opportunity to transform our understanding of the relationships
between microbes and humans in health and disease," said Dr. Alan
Krensky, the director of the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic
Initiatives (OPASI), which oversees the NIH Roadmap for Medical
Research.
While the term "microbiome" may be relatively new in
biomedical research, most people are familiar with some of the
effects — both good and bad — that microbes can have
on our health. Consider the example of the biggest reservoir of
microbes in humans: the digestive tract. The human gut harbors
many beneficial microorganisms, including certain bacteria called
probiotics. There is evidence these probiotics, found in dietary
supplements, yogurt and other dairy products as well as various
soy products, can stimulate the immune system and improve digestive
functions. In contrast, previous research suggests that variations
in the composition of microbial communities may contribute to chronic
health conditions, including diabetes, asthma, obesity and digestive
disorders.
"Microbes play a significant role in the health of the digestive
tract and many digestive diseases result when the microbial environment
is out of balance," said Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P.,
director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and
Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), and co-chair of the Human Microbiome Project’s
Implementation Group. "The Human Microbiome Project will help
us better understand the microbial environment in the gut, as well
as provide us with the tools and technology to expand our exploration
into this field of research."
Traditionally, microbiology has focused on the study of individual
species as isolated units, making it difficult to develop and inventory
all of the microbes in and on the human body. Because their growth
is dependent upon a specific natural environment, it’s difficult
to recreate microbe-host interactions in the laboratory. Advances
in next generation DNA sequencing technologies relying on a process
called metagenomic sequencing will be used. Instead of isolating
each microbe, all of the DNA within the collected samples will
be sequenced.
"Our goal is to discover what microbial communities exist
in different parts of the human body and to explore how these communities
change in the presence of health or disease," said National
Human Genome Research Institute Director, Francis S. Collins, M.D.,
Ph.D., co-chair of the Human Microbiome Project Implementation
Group. "In addition, we will likely identify novel genes and
functional elements in microbial genomes that will reshape the
way we think about and approach human biology."
NIH recently awarded $8.2 million to four sequencing centers,
to start building a framework and data resources for the Human
Microbiome Project. One-year awards were given to the sequencing
centers at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and Washington
University School of Medicine, St. Louis, which are part of the
NHGRI Large-Scale Sequencing Research Network; and the Broad Institute
of MIT/ Harvard, Cambridge, Mass., and the J. Craig Venter Institute,
Rockville, Md., which are funded through the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Microbial Genome Sequencing
Centers Program.
The objectives of this initial work are to sequence the genomes
of 200 microbes that have been isolated from the human body as
part of the 1,000 microbial genomes collection. Researchers will
also begin recruiting healthy volunteers who will donate samples
from the five body regions. NHGRI, NIAID, and the National Institute
of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) have led the initial
phases of the project.
"The recent emergence of faster and cost-effective sequencing
technologies promises to provide an unprecedented amount of information
about these microbial communities, which in turn will bolster the
development and refinement of analytical tools and strategies," said
NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., co-chair of the Human Microbiome
Project’s Implementation Group.
Following the precedents set by other large-scale genomics efforts,
such as the Human Genome Project and the International HapMap Project,
data from the Human Microbiome Project will be swiftly deposited
in public databases, including those supported by the National
Center for Biotechnology Information (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mapview/),
part of the National Library of Medicine. The project also will
fund the establishment of a Data Analysis and Coordinating Center,
which will coordinate data access and develop data retrieval tools
for the research community.
Also following on the lead of those efforts, the Human Microbiome
Project will monitor and support research on the ethical, legal
and social implications of the research. Areas of focus include
the clinical and health implications of using probiotics, potential
forensic uses of microbiome profiles, bioterrorism and biodefense
applications, the application of new technologies from the project,
and patenting and privacy issues.
"Examining and addressing the emerging ethical, legal and
social implications of metagenomics research is central to our
goal of one day moving any resulting diagnostic, prevention, or
treatment tools into the clinic in a safe and effective manner," said
NIDCR Director Lawrence Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D., co-chair for the
NIH Human Microbiome Project Implementation Group.
Additional information about the Human Microbiome Project is available
at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/hmp/.
For more information about funding opportunities, go to: http://www.nihroadmap.nih.gov/hmp/grants.asp.
A high resolution image of the bacteria, Entercoccus faecalis,
a microbe that lives in the human gut, is available in color at http://www.genome.gov/pressDisplay.cfm?photoID=20023,
or in black and white at http://www.genome.gov/pressDisplay.cfm?photoID=20024.
The Human Microbiome Project is part of the NIH Roadmap for Medical
Research. The Roadmap is a series of initiatives designed to pursue
major opportunities and gaps in biomedical research that no single
NIH institute could tackle alone, but which the agency as a whole
can address to make the biggest impact possible on the progress
of medical research. Additional information about the NIH Roadmap
can be found at www.nihroadmap.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's
Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and
Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting
and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research,
and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
Contacts:
Karen Silver, NIH OPASI
301-435-2435
NIH Office of Communications
301-496-4461
NIAID News Office
301-402-1663
Bob Kuska, NIDCR
301-594-7560
Marcia Vital, NIDDK
301-496-3583
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