The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) was a United States National Institute of Health (NIH) initiative with the goal of identifying and characterizing the microorganisms which are found in association with both healthy and diseased humans. Launched in 2008, the program has made significant discoveries over the past few years. (1)
On 13 June 2012, a major milestone of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) was announced by the NIH director Francis Collins (2). The announcement was accompanied with a series of coordinated articles published in Nature and several journals in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) on the same day. By mapping the normal microbial make-up of healthy humans using genome sequencing techniques, the researchers of the HMP have created a reference database and the boundaries of normal microbial variation in humans. |
(1) "Human Microbiome Project Diversity of Human MIcrobes Greater Than Previously Predicted." ScienceDaily. Retrieved 8 March 2012. (2) "Human Microbiome Project." The NIH Common Fund. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
|
|
|