Go Fish - Targeted Capturing of Members of the Microbiome

Isolation of single cells has become especially important in studies of the microbiome, due to the increasing focus on the dynamics of bacterial communities. Recent studies have shown that the metabolic output of a given microbiome may play a crucial part in shaping the development of a disease. There is also growing evidence that cell-cell interactions between members of a microbiome community can significantly impact physiological characteristics such as growth. Insight into the microbiome is often gained by varying a condition in the microbiome (e.g. altering the composition of the community via removal of a target bacterial strain). Improving isolation tools will enable better observation of the interactions within the microbiome as well as insight into the effect of these interactions on the microbiome. Researchers studying these dynamics need tools for effective and efficient isolation of individual members of the microbiome. Findings in this area have the potential to impact the entire field of microbiology. Based on its ranking as 47th most impactful in the Web of Science’s InCites Journal Citation Reports, with 1,046,594 citations in 2016, advances in microbiology have the potential to impact many lives.

​

This could also be of use to the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), which aims to facilitate understanding of how the microbiome impacts human health and disease. The HMP was launched in 2008 in an effort to better characterize the composition and impact of changes in the microbiome, which was not well understood at the time. The HMP would benefit from better methods for manipulating a microbiome to study the effects this has on human health. Data generated by the HMP can be used in clinical and pharmaceutical applications, such as microbial-based pathology study and microbiome-based therapeutics. Improved isolation tools would also help researchers better their understanding of microbial-based disease pathology. This would allow microbiologists to study previously uncultured bacteria and their effects on human health. While most bacterial infections are already well studied and understood, there has recently been new interest in studying the indirect impact of bacteria on non-microbial diseases, such as Polymorphonuclear neutrophil granulocytes (PNM’s). Researchers need a tool for easier and more specific capture of bacteria to enable such studies.

​

Microbial communities have a profound impact on human health, and an important focus in personalized medicine is directing therapeutics into modifying these communities. These therapeutics would ideally serve as substitutes  or alternatives to current antibiotics, in the interest of both patient health and environmental impact. These types of therapeutics can benefit patients suffering from a large array of conditions, including cancer, HIV/Aids, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and infectious diseases. There are almost 15 million cancer patients in the United States alone, which clearly demonstrates how many people can benefit from personalized medicine.