There\’s something like 100 trillion microbial cells, of thousands of different types, living in and on a typical person, with about 90% of the cells residing in the large intestine. Even among biomedical scientists and clinicians, the significance of that last sentence wasn\’t widely appreciated until recently. In the last 5 years, however, attention to the human microbiota has simply exploded, both among scientists and in the general public. Why? A growing realization that our native microbes play a huge role (or many huge roles) both in keeping us healthy and in making us sick.

A new, NIH-funded study is starting up in the Relman lab to address questions about the temporal dynamics of the gut microbiota. The lab is recruiting healthy adult participants to join the study right now. One of the benefits of the study is that they can tell you what is learned about your own personal gut microbiota. Les Dethlefsen\’s talk will briefly introduce this study, but mostly it will provide examples and explanations of some striking recent research findings about the interactions between the gut microbiota and health. And hopefully stimulate lots of questions and discussion!