The trillions of microbes that live in our gastrointestinal tract are known as the gut microbiome. It is an "acquired organ" of the body that is essential for the development of immune and metabolic systems and for nutrient digestion and absorption, among other things. As... click to read more

Bacteria are an integral part of human life. These organisms are on your skin, in your mouth, your ears, and your gut. After birth, a diverse population is acquired by the age of three and remarkably the population is quite similar and just as diverse... click to read more

Maybe you remember it from your childhood. There was a doorframe in your parents' house, marked by a ladder of small horizontal lines, with dates and your name written next to each line: the more recent the date, the higher the position of the line.... click to read more

Bacteria are present everywhere, also on our body surfaces. The intestine provides optimal living conditions to a diverse microbial ecosystem, termed the gut microbiota. In the intestine, the microbes live in very close connection and constant interaction with the host, us. The connection between bacteria... click to read more

Bacteria live in a hectic world. They need to find food and a happy place to live all while dividing every 20 or so minutes. To complicate things further, they must also outcompete the other bacteria they share a space with. In the human gut,... click to read more