Can good microbes improve our health?

Innovations in the Microbiome Tending the garden within Can good microbes improve our health? Does our gut govern the state of our mind? Can smart bacteria treat disease? Answer these questions and more in Innovations in the Microbiome. The human body plays host to a vast and diverse microbial community. From metabolic regulation to immunologic maintenance, the microbiome performs functions vital to our health. Innovations in the Microbiome distils the most critical insights from the recent explosion in microbiome research. As science continues to unravel the host–microbiome relationship, clues are emerging for the treatment of disease. Contents The Peacekeepers By Moises Velasquez-Manoff Amid the trillions of microbes that live in the intestines, scientists have found a few species that seem to play a key role in keeping us healthy... Read more Thinking from the Gut By Charles Schmidt The microbiome may yield a new class of psychobiotics for the treatment of anxiety, depression and other mood disorders... Read more Why Microbiome Treatments Could Pay Off Soon By Rob Knight Effective interventions may come before all the research is in... Read more The Gene–Microbe Link By Ruth E. Ley Evidence that genes shape the microbiome may point to new treatments for common diseases... Read more Microbiome Engineering By Justin L. Sonnenburg Synthetic biology may lead to the creation of smart microbes that can detect and treat disease... Read more The Diverse Microbiome of the Hunter-Gatherer By Stephanie L. Schnorr The Hadza of Tanzania offer a snapshot of the co-adaptive capacity of the gut ecosystem... Read more If you would be interested in partnering with Nature and Scientific American on a similar project please contact: sponsorship@nature.com. This special report on Innovations in the Microbiome, which is being published in both Scientific American and Nature, is sponsored by Nestlé. It was produced independently by Scientific American editors, who have sole responsibility for all editorial content. Beyond the choice to sponsor this particular topic, Nestlé had no input into the content of this package. A special report from: Produced with support from: