News

The Gut Microbiome’s Supersized Role In Shaping Our Metabolome

ISB researchers have shown which blood metabolites are associated with the gut microbiome, genetics, or the interplay between both. Their findings, published in the journal Nature Metabolism, have promising implications for guiding targeted therapies designed to alter the composition of the blood metabolome to improve human health.

Microbiome and weight loss

Can You Lose Weight? Ask Your Microbiome

The strongest associations with weight loss success or failure – independent of BMI – are found in the genetic capacity of the gut microbiome. These new findings open the door to diagnostic tests that can identify people likely to lose weight with healthy lifestyle changes and those who might need more drastic interventions.

Dr. Christian Diener, postdoc in ISB's Gibbons Lab.

New Modeling Tool Allows Microbiome Researchers to Map Community Ecology to Ecosystem Function

A promising new open-source metabolic modeling tool provides microbiome researchers a path forward in predicting ecosystem function from community structure. News of the software package, called MICOM, was developed in part by researchers in ISB’s Gibbons Lab, and its uses were published in the journal mSystems.