Growing unknown microbes 1 by 1
Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - 18:30
in Biology & Nature
Trillions of bacteria live in and on the human body; a few species can make us sick, but many others keep us healthy by boosting digestion and preventing inflammation. Although there's plenty of evidence that these microbes play a collective role in human health, we still know very little about most of the individual bacterial species that make up these communities. Employing the use of a specially designed glass chip with tiny compartments, Caltech researchers now provide a way to target and grow specific microbes from the human gut—a key step in understanding which bacteria are helpful to human health and which are harmful.