Probiotics may help battle antibiotic resistance

Probiotics may help battle antibiotic resistance

The latest study to investigate probiotics concludes that regular use may reduce the need for antibiotics. The authors hope that this might help mitigate the rise of antibiotic resistance. Could probiotics help reduce our reliance on antibiotics? Added to a range of products, including yogurts, chocolate, and potato chips, […]

Is Gut Sequencing the Future of Health Testing?

Video by David Nicholson, Curtis Grout

The bacteria that lives in the intestinal tract can affect digestion, weight gain, mood and how the body absorbs medicine. UBiome, a Silicon Valley startup, has built a company around sequencing gut bacteria — which the founders think one day will become as common and as medically necessary as a blood test. But it’s a long road to that future, especially with a test that asks people to swab their toilet paper.

Welcome to the Vaginal Microbiome Consortium (VMC) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)!

Welcome to the Vaginal Microbiome Consortium at VCU!

We are a group of researchers studying the impact of the vaginal microbiome on women’s health. The VMC is a highly interdisciplinary team in which clinicians, microbiologists, computational biologists, bioinformaticists, statisticians, genomic scientists, and human geneticists work collaboratively to analyze, interpret and publish our findings. Thousands of women have already contributed samples and information to the VMC. Both of our ongoing studies at VCU:

  • Multi’Omic Microbiome Study-Pregnancy Initiative and
  • Vaginal Human Microbiome Project

are funded through the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), an NIH Common Fund Initiative. […]

Food Safety: Keeping Your Food Foul-Free

“WILL YOU SMELL THIS?” You’ve probably had experience with this question before. And if you haven’t been the one asking, you’ve definitely been on the receiving end. With larger-than-life refrigerators, it can be easy to forget what’s hiding in the back of yours. And as the days on your […]