Microbiome

The microbiome is the ecological community of commensal, symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms that live on the skin and genitals and in the nose, ears, mouth and gut.

Planned studies
British patient charity Invest in ME is raising funds for a gut microbiome study at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom led by professor Simon Carding.

Funds have been raised by patients (originally led by the late Vanessa Li) for Ian Lipkin and Mady Hornig of Columbia University in the United States to perform a study looking at the gut microbiome in ME/CFS patients, the Microbe Discovery Project.

Notable studies

 * 2016, Support for the Microgenderome: Associations in a Human Clinical Population (Amy Wallis, Henry Butt, Michelle Ball, Donald Lewis, Dorothy Bruck)
 * 2015, Sleep quality and the treatment of intestinal microbiota imbalance in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A pilot study (Jackson ML, Butt H, Ball M, Lewis DP, Bruck D)
 * 2015, Changes in Gut and Plasma Microbiome following Exercise Challenge in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) (Shukla SK, Cook D, Meyer J, Vernon SD, Le T, Clevidence D, Robertson CE, Schrodi SJ, Yale S, Frank DN)
 * 2013, High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing reveals alterations of intestinal microbiota in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome patients (Frémont M, Coomans D, Massart S, Kenny de Meirleir)
 * 2012, Increased IgA responses to the LPS of commensal bacteria is associated with inflammation and activation of cell-mediated immunity in chronic fatigue syndrome (Michael Maes, Frank Twisk, Kubera M, Ringel K, Leunis JC, Geffard M)
 * 2012, The GI Microbiome and its Role in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Summary of Bacteriotherapy (Thomas J. Borody, Anna Nowak, Sarah Finalayson)
 * 2010, Gut inflammation in chronic fatigue syndrome (Lakhan SE, Kirchgessner A)

Commercial testers

 * uBiome

Academic projects

 * American Gut
 * British Gut Project

Learn more

 * Wikipedia - Microbiota
 * CFS Remission (Ken Lassesen's blogs about experimental ME/CFS microbiome and probiotic treatments)
 * 2016, Gender Gut Wars: Australian ME/CFS Study Suggests Different Gut Treatment Protocols Needed For Men and Women