People are not just people. They are an awful lot of microbes- trillions of them which reside in the human gut (bacteria, virus, fungi). Today, the microbiome is the buzzword in everyone’s tip of mouth, literally. Many if not most diseases can be traced back to disruption of the microbiome. While we have limited control over which of our genes are regulated, and how genes are expressed, our microbiome can be manipulated with direct medical intervention. “We call the gut the second brain”. Colon cancer, COVID-19, obesity, even autism and depression are being shown to be due to changes in the microbiome. We found that bacteria DNA from the human gut can be used as accurate diagnostics allowing disease screening, detection and prediction to be done with one stool test rather than a more invasive procedure. We can make “magic” of faeces. Fecal transplant has revolutionized management of recurrent clostridioles difficile infections. I would ask the question, people bank blood, why not feces? We advocate the establishment of a modern version of ‘Noah’s Ark’ to process and store gut microbiome biosamples in the Loop Area. Storing your stool when you were young may save you later in life. In this lecture, I will discuss the potential utility of our microbiome for the better health of our next generation.
