820 results about "Microbiome" patented technology

A microbiome is "the ecological community of commensal, symbiotic, and pathogenic microorganisms that literally share our body space." Joshua Lederberg coined the term, arguing the importance of microorganisms inhabiting the human body in health and disease. Many scientific articles distinguish "microbiome" and "microbiota" to describe either the collective genomes of the microorganisms that reside in an environmental niche or the microorganisms themselves, respectively. However by the original definitions these terms are largely synonymous. The human body contains over 10 times more microbial cells than human cells, although the entire microbiome only weighs about 200 grams, with some weight estimates ranging as high as 3 pounds. Some regard it as a "newly discovered organ" since its existence was not generally recognized until the late 1990s and it is understood to have potentially overwhelming impact on human health. Modern techniques for sequencing DNA have enabled researchers to find the majority of these microbes, since the majority of them cannot be cultured in a lab using current techniques.