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New interdisciplinary center at MIT to focus on the microbiome and human health

Bob

Senior Member
Messages
16,455
Location
England (south coast)
This article from MIT is quite interesting...

MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital are setting up a $25m interdisciplinary centre to investigate diseases related to the microbiome.

Unfortunately, the article does not mention ME/CFS, but it discusses inflammatory bowel disease and "systemic autoimmune diseases" for which it gives examples as "multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, arthritis, and other disorders, such as autism, obesity, acne, and allergies."

I've quoted some interesting extracts below...


New interdisciplinary center at MIT to focus on the microbiome and human health
Partnership with MGH, other institutions to foster regional ecosystem for rapidly evolving field.
November 6, 2014
http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/new-mit-center-microbiome-and-human-health-1106

This week, MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) announce the launch of the Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics, a new interdisciplinary center dedicated to advancing the understanding of the microbiome’s role in human biology and harnessing this knowledge to develop treatments for related illnesses.
With an expendable $25 million fund to support research and operations for the first five years, the center will fuel collaborations at the junction of clinical practice, basic research, computational biology, and engineering — critical disciplines for gathering and analyzing vast quantities of data related to the diverse types of bacteria within the human body, and their interactions with each other and the body’s own cells and organs. The ultimate goal is to develop tools and techniques for treating diseases and conditions linked to an altered microbiome.
The center’s initial, flagship project will focus on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Individuals with IBD, which includes conditions such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, suffer from chronic inflammation of the digestive tract and experience severe diarrhea, pain, fatigue, and weight loss.

IBD is known to have a strong link to the microbiome, according to Alm: “Microbiome-based medicine is poised to revolutionize patient care for IBD and many other diseases in the gastrointestinal tract,” he says.
Both Alm and Xavier emphasize that the center’s long-term purpose is to expand the breadth and depth of this emerging field. To that end, the center will also support smaller-scale “innovation projects” that would not otherwise receive funding due to their cross-disciplinary or exploratory nature. While IBD is the focus of the initial flagship project, the center is designed to foster opportunities to explore the impact of the microbiome on systemic autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, arthritis, and other disorders, such as autism, obesity, acne, and allergies.
 
Last edited:

Denise

Senior Member
Messages
1,095
This article from MIT is quite interesting...

MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital are setting up a $25m interdisciplinary centre to investigate diseases related to the microbiome.

Unfortunately, the article does not mention ME/CFS, but it discusses inflammatory bowel disease and "systemic autoimmune diseases".

I've quoted some interesting/helpful extracts below...


New interdisciplinary center at MIT to focus on the microbiome and human health
Partnership with MGH, other institutions to foster regional ecosystem for rapidly evolving field.
November 6, 2014
http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/new-mit-center-microbiome-and-human-health-1106

Very interesting!
I read this article earlier this week:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/opinion/sunday/there-is-no-healthy-microbiome.html

(two quotes)
"The microbiome is the sum of our experiences throughout our lives: the genes we inherited, the drugs we took, the food we ate, the hands we shook. It is unlikely to yield one-size-fits-all solutions to modern maladies."

"Our microbes are truly part of us, and just as we are vast in our variety, so, too, are they. We must embrace this complexity if we hope to benefit from it."