1. PERSPECTIVE
Future of Microbiomes Through
the National Microbiome Initiative
Brianna Johnson-King1
and Sharon F. Terry2
On May 13, 2016, the White House announced the Na-
tional Microbiome Initiative (NMI) to further support
research on microbiomes across different ecosystems and
fields of study. This initiative was created through the White
House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Federal
agencies, and private investors. Microbiomes are ‘‘all the
microorganisms along with their genetic make-up as well as
their interactions in a particular environment’’ (Arora et al.,
2015). Microorganisms exist everywhere—from humans to
plants, soils, oceans, air, and animals. This vast area of na-
scent research requires researchers and scientists from a va-
riety of fields. Yet, the complexities of microbiomes make
studying them very difficult, as replicating the conditions
microbiomes require to live is challenging in a laboratory.
Many live and survive in conjunction with other micro-
biomes, which can impede the study of individual micro-
biomes. In the past decade, there have been technological
improvements that have made it possible to sequence and
study more microbiomes than ever before.
The NMI has three goals (The White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy, United States, 2016):
1. Supporting interdisciplinary research to answer fun-
damental questions about microbiomes in diverse
ecosystems.
2. Developing platform technologies that will generate
insights and help share knowledge of microbiomes
in diverse ecosystems and enhance access to micro-
biome data.
3. Expanding the microbiome workforce through citi-
zen science, public engagement, and educational
opportunities.
These three goals address the need for sharing knowledge
and present the possibility of advancement by including so
many agencies and stakeholders for varying areas of exper-
tise. Thus far federal agencies included in funding are the
Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, National Institute of Health (NIH), National
Science Foundation, and U.S. Department of Energy. Other
funders include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
JDRF, University of California, San Diego, One Codex, The
BioCollective LLC, The Health Ministries Network, and The
University of Michigan.
The past microbial studies and advancements show the
need for this NMI, as well as the vast potential for new dis-
coveries. One of the most studied areas of microbiomes is in
humans. The gut has the largest collection of microorganisms
(Turnbaugh et al., 2007) and has a vital role in controlling
nutrients, defending against pathogenic microbes, and creating
new blood vessels. Changes in the microbiomes in the gut,
specifically in the intestines, have been linked with disorders
such as ‘‘asthma, atopy, obesity, type-1 diabetes, and autism’’
(Arora et al., 2015). Other gut microbiome changes have been
associated with diseases such as ‘‘gastroenteritis, necrotizing
enterocolitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and malabsorp-
tion’’ (Arora et al., 2015). As changes in specific microbiomes
are linked with diseases or disorders, researchers and clinicians
can then begin to use this knowledge to treat or prevent disease
by managing microbiomes in the human bodies.
The human body is a complex host of many systems,
extending research far beyond the gut. On a broad scale,
researchers need to understand how microbiomes function.
Do microbiomes recover from changes—whether infections,
diet, antibiotics, location, and so on? If they do recover, at
what speed is this done? What impacts do these changes have
on disease, aging, growth, and so on? What factors impact
changes in microbiomes? What microbiomes are even in the
human body and how do they vary between different people?
Many of these sorts of questions began to be researched in
2007 as the NIH started the Human Microbiome Project. This
project began to map the microbiomes in our bodies that
resulted in a public bank of data for other researchers to
access. They are furthering this research by joining the NMI.
Another Federal agency involved in the NMI is the Na-
tional Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA. Their
research has included comparing the effects of space travel
on the human microbiome, as the change in gravity, envi-
ronmental location, daily actions, stress, living quarters, and
food is very different for those traveling to space. This on-
going study could reveal potential triggers that cause mi-
crobiomes to change. These changes are especially important
as changes create higher risk of disease. An additional study
by NASA uniquely applied typical procedures and sequenc-
ing used for spacecraft bacteria to human breast ductal fluid.
Using their unique sequencing methods on ductal fluid al-
lowed for the discovery of different microbiome makeup
1
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.
2
Genetic Alliance, Washington, District of Columbia.
GENETIC TESTING AND MOLECULAR BIOMARKERS
Volume 20, Number 10, 2016
ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Pp. 561–562
DOI: 10.1089/gtmb.2016.29022.sjt
561

2. between healthy breasts and those affected by breast cancer.
This may lead to understanding better any microbial com-
ponent of breast cancer.
Other federal agencies and private sector stakeholders in-
vesting in this initiative have additional interests. The De-
partment of Energy has invested in research such as biofuels,
the U.S. Department of Agriculture has invested in under-
standing microbiomes in crops and animals, and the National
Science Foundation has promoted cross-collaboration. Both
knowledge and methods from this study can be useful to other
topics. NIH’s Human Microbiome Project has approximately
‘‘50,000 files of sequence and other genomic data’’ publicly
available (The White House Office of Science and Tech-
nology Policy, United States, 2016). The NMI has planned
for robust sharing through the involvement of One Codex,
The BioCollective LLC, and Health Ministries Network.
These private companies will focus on the sharing of data
between researchers and creating an extended bank of mi-
crobiomes for data and samples.
The diversity of stakeholders in this large-scale initia-
tive will help uncover information about the functions,
composition, dynamics, triggers, and interrelations of mi-
croorganisms. The possibilities and benefits of discovery
are endless.
References
Arora S, Dewan P, Gupta P (2015) Microbiome: paediatricians’
perspective. Indian J Med Res 142:515.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy,
United States (2016) FACT SHEET: announcing the National
Microbiome Initiative. Retrieved July 17, 2016, from https://
www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/documents/
OSTP National Microbiome Initiative Fact Sheet.pdf
Turnbaugh PJ, Ley RE, Hamady M, et al. (2007) The human
microbiome project. Nature 449:804–810.
Address correspondence to:
Sharon F. Terry, MA
Genetic Alliance
4301 Connecticut Avenue NW
Suite 404
Washington, DC 20008-2369
Email: sterry@geneticalliance.org
562 JOHNSON-KING AND TERRY