Q&A: Gathering Diverse Microbiome Samples

Cofounders of a microbiome biobank speak with The Scientist about their new partnership with nonprofit OpenBiome and how to ethically work with donors. When microbiologist Mathilde Poyet and medical bioinformatician Mathieu Groussin first met as postdocs in Eric Alm’s microbiome lab at MIT in 2014, they realized two things. First, the lack of diversity in the microbiome data they were using made it nearly impossible for them to study anything but white people in industrialized communities, and therefore, the applicability of their work would be limited. Indeed, studies have found that data gathered from industrialized countries are unfit for creating therapies or microbiome-based treatments for use elsewhere. Second, they realized that they could do something about it.

Read the full article here: https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/q-a-gathering-diverse-microbiome-samples-70721