10,000 Germ Species Help Humans Survive
This week researchers announced their completion of a project that genetically mapped 10,000 germ species found in the body in an effort to develop new techniques to fight diseases.
The endeavor, named the Human Microbiome Project, was a five year $173 million dollar project funded by the National Institute of Health. The study is the first of its kind to understand the relationship between bacteria and organisms that are found in the body.
"This is a whole new way of looking at human biology and human disease, and it's awe-inspiring," Dr. Phillip Tarr of Washington University at St. Louis, one of the lead researchers, told the Associated Press.
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He added: "These bacteria are not passengers, they are metabolically active. As a community, we now have to reckon with them like we have to reckon with the ecosystem in a forest or a body of water."
Researchers have known that the human body harbors many types of bacteria both good and bad, which they refer to as the microbiome. Until this study, scientists focused primarily on the bacteria and organisms that caused illness or disease, according to KTIV.
What wasn't widely known was the vast amount of bacteria- some 10,000 different types- that are found throughout the body from the respiratory system to the digestive system. Scientists also did not understand how bacteria in the body contribute to overall health.
The project included over 200 scientists aided with the help of over 80 research institutions who mapped and recorded the different types of bacteria using the same methods that were implemented during the mapping of the human genome. The findings were published in the Public Library of Science.
"It's likely this work will lead to new treatments for [the inflammatory bowel disorder] Crohn's disease, new treatments for diabetes and metabolic diseases, new treatments for even other diseases, like eczema," Michael Fischbach, a biologist at the University of California, San Francisco, told AP.
