Cofounders of a microbiome biobank speak with The Scientist about their new partnership with nonprofit OpenBiome and how to ethically work with donors.

A jolt of norepinephrine in the mouse gut facilitates colonization by certain microbes, which in turn deplete glycine, enhancing cocaine-induced behaviors.

Pups born to mice whose mothers had been fed a high-fat diet showed social deficits, a study shows. 

A study adds to evidence linking gut bacteria to liver conditions in people who don’t drink excessive amounts of alcohol. 

The gut microbiomes of city-dwelling animals, including coyotes, lizards, and birds, show similarities to those found in humans who also live in urban environments.

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.

Milk fortifiers of human origin show no evident advantage in the development of the gut microbiota of premature infants over fortifiers derived from cows, while the intake of the mother’s own milk does, two studies suggest.

When consumed for as little as two weeks, common alternatives to sugar affect intestinal bacterial communities, with some reducing the body’s ability to regulate blood glucose levels, a study finds.

Mixtures of viruses that attack inflammatory bowel disease–causing bacteria in mice also survive the digestive tract and are well-tolerated in humans, a study finds.

IgA antibodies appear to bind to specific species of commensal gut bacteria in mice, according to a study.

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.

Experiments in animals and observations in humans suggest that the amount of proline circulating in one’s plasma has a strong association with depression severity.

Microbes in the gut influence the death of support cells in the brain by producing isoamylamine, a study suggests.

Studies are finding that a single course of antibiotics alters the gut microbiomes of healthy volunteers—and that it can take months or even years to recover the original species composition.