MicroBiome Analysis Center to Link Chronic Diseases to Microbiomes

Filed in archive Biotech Hubs and Facilities , Microbiology on January 14, 2009

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 6906975

A new molecular ecology facility at Mason called the MicroBiome Analysis Center (MBAC) aims to catalog the human microbiome - the population of microorganisms living within the human body- and try to correlate it with chronic diseases such as obesity, cancer and irritable bowel syndrome. The center will use a patented technology for genomic sequencing called Multitag Pyrosequencing (MTPS) that allows researchers to examine, count and barcode hundreds of thousands of microorganisms per day within samples taken from various ecological systems, including the human body.

"Did the bacteria change and upset the immune system and cause the cancer? Or did the cancer start, upset the immune system and then upset the bacteria? Or did the immune system get upset and affect both? That's what we're trying to find out."

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