The NIH Human Microbiome Project
Abstract
The National Institutes of Health Human Microbiome Project (NIH HMP), funded as a Roadmap Initiative, is a multi-component community resource. The goals of the HMP are to characterize the human microbiome in five body sites from healthy volunteers, determine the relationship between the microbiome and disease, and to provide both a standardized data resource and technological developments to enable such studies to be undertaken broadly in the scientific community. The ethical, legal, and social implications of such research are considered as well. The ultimate objective of the HMP is to create opportunities to improve human health through monitoring or manipulation of the human microbiome. The history and implementation of this new program are described here.
Footnotes
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- Received June 2, 2009.
- Accepted September 24, 2009.
- Copyright © 2009, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
