About

The University of Pittsburgh Center for Medicine and the Microbiome was established to foster innovative basic, translational, and clinical research in the microbiome.  The Center is comprised of MD and PhD researchers in multiple disciplines who will work together to understand the role of the microbiome in health and disease and to apply this knowledge to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.  Such a center is important given that microbiome research is a rapidly expanding field that will impact multiple areas of human health and radically alter our understanding of many disease processes.  The Center will benefit the University of Pittsburgh specifically by providing a home for interdisciplinary studies of the microbiome and integrating work of basic and clinical scientists with access to large clinical cohorts in order to efficiently test new ideas and rapidly disseminate pioneering treatments.

The National Microbiome Initiative was launched in May 2016 by the White House to support the exploration of not just the human microbiome, but also microbiomes across the planet.  The Initiative encompasses more than $500 million dollars of funding from federal agencies, companies, universities, and non-profits.  The University of Pittsburgh Center for Medicine and the Microbiome was a participant in the National Microbiome Initiative at a conference held at the White House.