Microbiome

The varied community of microorganisms that live in different parts of the body, particularly the gut, is referred to as the human microbiome. These microorganisms are mostly bacteria, but they can also be viruses, fungi, and archaea. These microbial communities are vital for immune regulation, nutrition synthesis, digestion, and pathogen defense. Metagenomics research has shown that homeostasis depends on a healthy, diverse microbiome, whereas dysbiosis, or imbalances in the microbiome, is linked to a variety of illnesses, such as obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies, and neuropsychiatric disorders. The field of microbiome research is growing quickly, providing new information on diet-microbe interactions, probiotic treatments, and personalized medicine.

Microbiome Transplants for Skin, Lung, and Metabolic Diseases

Microbiome-based therapies are emerging as promising approaches for skin, lung, and metabolic diseases by restoring microbial balance, modulating immune responses, and targeting disease-associated dysbiosis, although most applications remain investigational outside recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection. Microbial transplantation, probiotics, engineered commensals, and metabolite-based interventions are expanding therapeutic possibilities while highlighting important challenges related to safety, engraftment, and regulatory oversight.

The Microbiome and Aging

Risk Factors for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

How “Fad” Diets Affect the Gut Microbiota

Fermented Foods and Gut Health

Menopause and the Microbiome

Gut Bacteria and Autism Development

The Microbiome of a Newborn

Fecal Microbiota Transplant Regulation

Vaginal Microbiome and Premature Birth

Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs) and the Microbiome

Effects of a Gluten-Free Diet on the Gut Microbiota

See more featured articles »

Gut Microbiome and Aging: How Gut Bacteria Influence Health and Longevity

Microbiome-Host Cell Interactions

Insight into the Skin Microbiome

Oral Microbiota

Eye Microbiome: How Bacteria May Influence Eye Health and Disease

Does the Microbiome Interact with the Human Endocrine System?

How Does Your Diet Affect your Gut Microbiome?

Is Coffee Good for the Gut?

Achievements of the Human Microbiome Project

Drug Metabolism and Microbiome

Do Serotonin and Antidepressants Affect the Microbiome?

Human Microbiome Project (HMP)

How Gut Fungi and Archaea Influence Human Health

Disease Susceptibility and the Microbiome

Can you Treat a Food Allergy by Altering the Gut Microbiome?

Genetic Factors that Influence Bacterial Diversity in the Human Gut

What Role Does the Immune System and Microbiome Play in Health and Disease?

Fecal Microbiota Transplant Technique

The Effect of Intermittent Fasting on the Gut Microbiome

Microbiome and Cancer

Is There a Brain Microbiome?

Conjunctiva microbiota

Ovarian Microbiome Overview: Fertility, PCOS, and the Gut–Ovary Axis

The Gut–Brain–Skin Axis: How Diet and Gut Health Influence Mood, Skin, and Aging

How Artificial Sweeteners Disrupt the Gut Microbiome, Or Do They?

What is Vaginal Microbiome?

Scalp Microbiome Explained: What’s Living on Your Scalp and Why It Matters

Human Microbiome

Alzheimer's Disease and the Microbiome

What is the Human Virome?

What Role do Microbiomes Play in Urinary Tract Infections?

Fecal Microbiota Transplant

Microbiome and Disease

Antibiotics and the Microbiome

How Does the Diet Impact Microbiota?

Gut Microbiota

Skin Microbiota

Is There a Link Between Migraine and the Gut Microbiome?

Parkinson's Disease and the Gut Microbiome

Latest Microbiome News and Research

AlphaFold3 reveals molecular interactions driving T cell recognition

Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), part of City of Hope, have developed a new approach using the artificial intelligence platform AlphaFold3 to predict whether a T cell receptor will recognize a specific antigen based solely on its genetic sequence.

3 Nov 2026

Engineered beneficial bacteria reduce bloodstream infections after stem cell transplants

Researchers at City of Hope®, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the country, and collaborators have pioneered a new approach to preventing dangerous bloodstream infections in patients receiving donor stem cell transplants for blood cancers.

3 Nov 2026

Compounds that give citrus fruits their scent may affect gut health

A review published in Food & Function found that dietary terpenoids, naturally occurring compounds in fruits, herbs, and vegetables, can suppress inflammatory signalling and improve intestinal barrier function in laboratory and animal studies. However, human evidence remains limited to two small studies of geraniol-based interventions for irritable bowel syndrome, with further research needed to establish clinical efficacy, appropriate dosing, and long-term safety.

3 Nov 2026

Blueberries reduced blood vessel inflammation in mice, but only with gut microbes present

A preclinical study found that gut microbes help convert blueberry phytochemicals into circulating metabolites, including hippuric acid, that are associated with reduced vascular inflammation. In mice fed a high-fat diet, blueberry supplementation reduced inflammatory markers and monocyte adhesion to blood vessels, but these benefits disappeared following antibiotic-mediated gut microbial depletion.

3 Nov 2026

New enzyme discovery reveals how breast milk feeds infant gut bacteria

Microbiologists have found that an enzyme, not normally associated with microbial activities in the human gut, to have a role in how some bacteria access key nutrients in breast milk.

3 Nov 2026

Spatial study maps active epithelial crosstalk driving chronic periodontitis

Epithelial barriers are active organizers of tissue homeostasis, immune surveillance and host defense, yet chronic inflammation can corrupt their repair and communication with connective tissue.

2 Nov 2026

Study finds unexpected lower gut bacterial diversity in vegans

The gut is home to billions of microorganisms. It is a complex ecosystem that regulates many of the body's functions and helps keep us healthy – when it is in balance.

30 Oct 2026

Gut microbial catalog reveals systemic inflammation drivers in spinal injury

Scientists exploring the links between a spinal cord injury, inflammation and immune function have turned their attention to a genome-level analysis of the gut microbial community, with early study results offering hints at potential new approaches to aid healing.

30 Oct 2026

Study redefines picobirnavirus as a bacteria hunting virus

Thriving alongside trillions of bacteria in the human digestive tract is a vast population of viruses. Ever since one such denizen of the gut microbiome, known as picobirnavirus, was first spotted decades ago, researchers thought it directly infected human tissue and played a role in gastrointestinal illness.

29 Oct 2026

New Yale initiative explores the role of inflammation in disease

Yale School of Medicine (YSM) was awarded a $10 million grant from the Blavatnik Family Foundation (BFF) to launch a new research initiative in the field of inflammation science.

29 Oct 2026

Researchers tested an unexpected addition to vaginal treatment: oxygen

Researchers investigated the effects of topical vaginal oxygen treatment, alone or combined with antimicrobials, on the vaginal microbiota of 22 women with bacterial vaginosis or vaginitis. The combined treatment reduced the relative abundance of strict anaerobes and increased Lactobacillus abundance, but the absence of an antimicrobial-only control group prevented researchers from establishing whether oxygen contributed independently to these changes.

28 Oct 2026

Semaglutide changes gut bacteria in rats beyond what eating less explains

Researchers compared semaglutide-treated male and female rats with pair-fed animals receiving the same amount and type of food to distinguish drug-associated microbiome changes from those linked to reduced eating. Semaglutide altered bacterial richness and community composition, with some changes absent from the pair-fed groups and uncertain consequences for health.

26 Oct 2026

Beer and liquor show more oral bacteria links than wine in a large US study

Researchers analyzed beverage intake and oral microbiome data from 5,598 adults across three US cohorts and found that alcohol consumption showed the strongest associations with oral bacterial diversity and composition among the beverages examined. Higher alcohol intake was associated with greater bacterial richness and differences in genera linked to oral health, but the cross-sectional preprint could not establish whether alcohol caused these differences or influenced disease risk.

26 Oct 2026

The vaginal microbiome may relate to more than reproductive health

Researchers analyzed vaginal microbiota, metabolites, and psychological questionnaire scores in 105 young Italian women and found associations between microbial community types and reward responsiveness, motivational drive, and behavioral inhibition. Exploratory models identified statistical links involving vaginal GABA and valine, but the cross-sectional study could not establish whether microbiome changes influence psychological functioning or the reverse.

26 Oct 2026

Researchers call for microbiome moonshot to tackle chronic diseases

Rutgers researchers are part of an international call for a microbiome moonshot, a massive, coordinated effort to pinpoint how certain microorganisms inside us drive chronic disease and how others can be harnessed for repair.

23 Oct 2026

Gut microbiome differences may explain varied sleep responses to hydrogen supplementation

Hiroshima University researchers investigated the effects of hydrogen supplementation on sleep quality in healthy human volunteers.

23 Oct 2026

Unstable immune cells linked to severe cancer immunotherapy side effects

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh uncovered the unstable immune cells that can cause up to 40% of immunotherapy patients to experience serious side effects and showed that diet and microbiome composition influence the side effect's severity.

22 Oct 2026

Gut bacteria use food signals to manage body's biological clock

Biological clocks are often associated with light. Historically, most people start their days when the sun is up, and end their days when the sun sets.

22 Oct 2026

Semaglutide and teduglutide reduce immune-driven gut injury in mice

Researchers found that gut-derived GLP-1 and GLP-2 signaling helped protect mice against T cell-induced intestinal injury, with GLP-1R primarily regulating inflammation and GLP-2R supporting intestinal repair. Semaglutide and teduglutide, administered separately or together, reduced acute intestinal damage in mice lacking intestinal proglucagon, suggesting potential avenues for investigating treatments for immune-mediated gut injury.

21 Oct 2026

Biological framework tracks postpartum vulvar tissue recovery timelines

A new biological model published in Sexual Medicine Reviews by Oxford University Press addresses why pain with sex after childbirth-reported by 60% of women at three months-persists for some long after hormones return to normal.

21 Oct 2026