A Nature Medicine plan outlines 10 priority areas to study the microbiome’s role in chronic disease and to develop protective or restorative microbial functions, with a strong emphasis on pregnancy and early childhood development.

The proposal emphasizes testing microbiome influences on chronic disease and creating practical microbial interventions, focusing on pregnancy and early childhood as crucial windows.

Recommended actions include globally harmonized research methods, incorporating microbiome science into medical training and school nutrition education, and public outreach to turn findings into daily decisions.

Implementation depends on securing funding for targeted studies and education, aligning with a national priority advocated by Health and Human Services leadership.

Initial practical applications include FDA-approved microbiome therapies Rebyota and Vowst for preventing recurrent C. difficile infections, while cancer immunotherapy and brain diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s remain active research directions.

Cancer immunotherapy responses and brain-gut connections in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s are noted as promising areas requiring disease-specific evidence to broaden microbiome-based approaches.

The existence of FDA-approved microbiome therapies like Rebyota and Vowst demonstrates real-world potential for microbiome interventions.

Rutgers University researchers join an international call for a national microbiome moonshot to understand how human microbiota influence chronic diseases and how they can be harnessed for repair.

Led by Rutgers researchers Martin Blaser and Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, the initiative advocates a global push to leverage microbiome science for health repair.

The plan calls for new standards to evaluate and approve microbiome-based treatments, transparent reporting on how medicines and environmental exposures affect the microbiome, and integrating microbiome and nutrition science into medical and school curricula.

It also emphasizes communicating how medicines, food additives, and environmental exposures impact the microbiome while maintaining safety standards.

DHHS funding for microbiome research is not yet expanded, but Secretary Kennedy Jr. has elevated it as a national priority, signaling potential future support.