UK Institute of Microbiome Engineering

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he microbes that live within us influence our health and wellbeing. Research has shown changes in the microbiome are linked with inflammatory diseases, diabetes, obesity, cancer and mental health. They can also determine how effective treatments are and how well we recover from surgery. The microbiome has also become a multi-billion-dollar industry, with drug and diagnostic companies racing to capture the market for personalised medicine.Despite these advances, our understanding of the interactions between the host and the microbiota remain primitive as we do not have the tools to interrogate these systems in a quantitative manner. Here we outline a proposal to build a world- leading multi-disciplinary and multi-centre UK Institute for Microbiome Engineering. This institute will leverage cutting-edge engineering approaches to biology - systems and synthetic biology - to influence and modify the microbiota in well determined ways. This investment will have a huge and significant impact for the NHS over the next 30 years, influencing hospital treatment, home healthcare, disease prevention, mental health and wellbeing.