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The Microbiome: A Contributor to Health and Disease
- Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 26, Number 1, February 2015
- pp. 62-72
- 10.1353/hpu.2015.0025
- Article
- Additional Information
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As the 21st century unfolds there is substantial evidence that biological research is experiencing extraordinary scientific and technological advances. Prominent among these advances are the completion of the Human Genome Project, which laid the foundation for the second advance, the Human Microbiome Project. Emerging from these advances are two overarching conclusions: a) genomics is no longer the sole domain of the geneticist, and b) we each are hosts to trillions of microorganisms. Genomics and other technologies have enhanced efforts to characterize the structure, composition, and functions of the microbiome. This characterization has fueled progress in understanding the role of the microbiome in health and disease. In this review, we highlight developments that have helped illuminate the microbiome-health connection. This information can improve an understanding of connections and relationships among multiple factors (or determinants) of health.