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Microbial Ecology - Call for submissions - Functional human microbiome: going beyond the sequence

microbiome manSince the mid 2000s, tremendous progress has been made in improving our understanding of the diversity of microbes that live in and on the human body. The human microbiome is now considered to encompass species that reside on various body surfaces and in various tissues including skin, placenta, seminal fluid, vaginal tract, lung, saliva, and gastrointestinal tract.
 
There have been correlations identified between microbial signatures and disease onset and progression. Many microbial species are being developed for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes; bacteriophage, fungal and viral species are being studied as we expand our accessibility of sample types. Small molecules are being studied for their impact on health distant from the site where they are being produced. The microbiome is being related to various emerging infectious species. Many over the counter products are available that incorporate the term microbiome.
 
The challenge in understanding the exact mechanisms that this milieu of species use in disease conditions in various human populations remains. We have started down the road of investigating these in individual species but true mechanisms and signatures from these consortia elude us. Getting to the real function of our microbiome is an addressable question. In this Special Issue, we explore recent significant advancements in the human microbiome space, including looking at novel diseases, understudied populations of people, as well as the small molecules and other signatures produced by the microbes that inhabit the human body.

The deadline for submissions is 30th July 2021.

Please submit your manuscript here (this opens in a new tab).

Guest Editors:

Dr Manolito Torralba is the Laboratory Director at the J. Craig Venter Institute. He has helped JCVI’s efforts with projects such as the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) which revolutionized how the microbial community residing on the human body is viewed in terms of health and disease.  He earned his doctorate at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. studying novel virulence factors in methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). His primary research interests include host-pathogen interactions, antibiotic resistance in Gram positive bacteria, and the microbiome’s influence on cancer development.

Dr Torralba’s contributions to the biotechnology industry has centered around genomics approaches to studying health and disease, bringing significant contributions to medicine and the scientific field.

Dr Joseph Petrosino is the Director of Molecular Virology and Microbiology at the Center for Metagenomics and Microbiome Research within Baylor College of Medicine. His research looks at the metagenomic and genetic interactions between commensal microbiota and their hosts. His laboratory looks specifically at how microbially encoded functions influence host health and disease through studies in humans and pre-clinical models. Through this research, their goal is to introduce new diagnostics and therapeutics to address a variety of human diseases.


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