Neandertals are our closest evolutionary relative. They have been extinct for approximately 40,000 years, but lived across Europe and West Asia where they co-existed and interbred with humans. Despite their remarkable physical and genetic similarity to us humans, our understanding of their lifestyle is limited.... click to read more

Diabetes, infertility, cancer, allergies, Alzheimer's disease - the key to one day preventing or even curing such afflictions and diseases (both infectious and genetically driven) may be locked in our own genetic code and the code of microorganisms that inhabit our bodies. Genomics, the study... 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

If someone told you that in our body we harbour billions of bacteria, surely you would feel mocked, but it's true! There is evidence showing that microbes colonize all the part of our body that are exposed to the external environment (like mouth and skin),... 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