title: Engineering Human Microbiota: Influencing Cellular and Community Dynamics for Therapeutic Applications.
abstract: The complex relationship between microbiota, human physiology, and environmental perturbations has become a major research focus, particularly with the arrival of culture-free and high-throughput approaches for studying the microbiome. Early enthusiasm has come from results that are largely correlative, but the correlative phase of microbiome research has assisted in defining the key questions of how these microbiota interact with their host. An emerging repertoire for engineering the microbiome places current research on a more experimentally grounded footing. We present a detailed look at the interplay between microbiota and host and how these interactions can be exploited. A particular emphasis is placed on unstable microbial communities, or dysbiosis, and strategies to reestablish stability in these microbial ecosystems. These include manipulation of intermicrobial communication, development of designer probiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation, and synthetic biology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Woloszynek
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pastor
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Mell
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nandi
authors.affiliation: McKool Smith Hennigan, P. C., Redwood Shores, CA, United States of America.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sokhansanj
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America. Electronic address: gail.l.rosen@gmail.com.
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Rosen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001675:Bioethics; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D006801:Humans; D064307:Microbiota; D008954:Models, Biological; D012926:Social Control, Formal
keywords: human microbiome; metabolic cross-feeding; microbiota transplantation; prebiotics; probiotics; quorum sensing; synthetic consortia