UW launches new center to explore the microbiome: HealthLink

SEATTLE — They exist all around us and in our gut alone, there are an estimated 100 trillion bacteria that live inside us. The world of microbes is unimaginably vast, and a new center at the University of Washington is working to piece it together.

"There are trillions of these organisms living with us, every single day," said Dr. Rotonya M. Carr.

The microbiome is an entire community of bacteria and other organisms that we cannot see with the naked eye. It is a world that is more than simply, germs.

"There are viruses, there are fungi, and all of these organisms are working hard every day to help us thrive," Carr said.

Carr heads UW Medicine's Department of Gastroenterology. She helped launch UW's Microbial Interactions and Microbiome Center, or "mim_c" for short.

"It's really, we think, the first of its kind. Certainly in this region in the Pacific Northwest," Carr said.

Dr. Joseph Mougous, an associate professor of microbiology at UW, will lead the center.

"We're just lucky to recruit the best of the best to really take us forward in the mission of our center," Carr said.

Carr said that mission is connecting the expertise of microbiologists with other researchers who are looking into how microorganisms affect our health and environment.

"We're really at the forefront of using a lot of the information we have gained and translating that to actual therapies," Carr said.

Carr added, the bacteria in our gut, especially, impacts the entire body: the way humans absorb food, even the way we fight diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome, and much more.

"The solution to health is not rocket science, it really does come back to the gut, and the nutrients, and how those components interact with one another," Carr said.

The new center was made possible by a grant funded by Lynn M. and Michael D. Garvey. For more information on the new center, visit mimcuw.org.

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