microbiome, immunology

Microbial diversity in the infant gut shrank suddenly during the first lockdown, but the lasting health effects are less clear.

Vaginal dysbiosis has long been a taboo subject, but studying and optimizing the vaginal microbiome could be a game changer for women's health.

Researchers showed that the delivery method affects the microbiome and plays a role in the infant vaccine immune response.

Scientists continue to ring alarm bells about the risks associated with the continued misuse of antimicrobials and advocate for innovative treatments, improved surveillance, and greater public health education.

Scientists identified a species of Subdoligranulum that may drive disease.

Regulatory T cells in the colon travel to muscles to promote wound healing in mice, raising questions about how antibiotics may impact injury recovery.

A neural pathway between the gut and the brain led to the release of dopamine when the mice ran on a wheel or treadmill, but only in the presence of a robust microbiome. 

Pregnancy-induced changes in the immune system are key to a successful birth. Understanding those changes could allow researchers to protect both mother and child.

Aberrant immune activation, the main cause of prematurity and stillbirths, could be preventable through interventions such as maternal vaccination. 

A high-fat diet induced changes to the animals’ vaginal microbiomes that boosted survival after exposure to the virus.

A bacterium that produces an insulin-like peptide can give mice type 1 diabetes, and infection with the microbe seems to predict the onset of the disease in humans, a study finds.

Researchers are going beyond fecal samples to understand how the patterns of commensal microbes in the gastrointestinal tract influence development and health.

The Scientist spoke with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers Scott Weiss and Yang-Yu Liu, who propose that people bank stool samples when they’re young and healthy so that they can be transplanted to rejuvenate the gut microbiome later on.

Microbes designed to produce specific immunomodulatory metabolites could give immunotherapy a boost.