Microbiome Applications In Pathology

The microbiota, or compending of organisms living in us and on us, plays essential functions in our natural development, metabolism, immune function, and susceptibility to a variety of diseases. The growing base of knowledge regarding causative effects of complex microbial communities on health and disease has opened new opportunities to leverage it for the development of new therapeutic interventions and diagnostics. While use of therapeutic microbiota for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection is now standard of care, additional opportunities are arising as we understand how the microbiota affects cancer development, progression and treatment, auto-immune and allergic diseases, and in the pharmacology and toxicology of many drugs where microbially-mediated metabolism impacts drug efficacy and toxic profiles. In this seminar the microbiota will be introduced, with methods to assess its status, including overlap with infectious disease applications, and how Pathologists can leverage existing and anticipated new forms of testing to incorporate microbiota-informed data in the diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy of different diseases.

Learning objectives

• Understand what the microbiome is and how it influences health and development of different diseases.
• Current and potential future clinical applications of the microbiome
  - Methods to assess the microbiome from community structure to microbially-produced products that have physiologic effects on the host.
• Overlap of diagnostic methods for microbiome applications and detection of infectious agents.

Webinar Materials

Handout (PDF, 3.4 MB)

Presenter: