Microbiome Stewardship Research Team

What is “microbiome stewardship”?

Microbiome stewardship is the broad idea that we need to consider ecosystem-level factors when we think about public health, as our environment, behaviors, and public policy affects interactions between microbes and human health. Microbiomes are highly dynamic systems, featuring bacteria, archaea, protozoa, fungi, and viruses; and our personal microbiomes are derived from a larger shared, collective microbial resource.

The importance of the human microbiome (the bacteria, fungi, archaea, protozoa, and viruses that we directly and indirectly interact with throughout our lives) for health and well-being has been well established. However, despite their demonstrated impact, there is limited information on the interconnectivity of non-host habitats (e.g., the built environment or other less intensively managed environments) and their collective contributions to human health. This includes interactions across scales such as with others in shared spaces, cultural and dietary practices, food systems and industrialized food processes, natural environments, built environments, and air pollution. 

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© Figure from Robinson et al. 2022, mSystems

The concept of the collective microbiome reinforces the idea of microbiomes as a public good from which all humans, plants, and animals derive benefit. Deterioration of the collective microbiome, and the increasing prevalence of microbiome dysbiosis in humans and elsewhere, is the least well-understood but the most-important facet of biodiversity loss and ecosystem health decline. Microbiome stewardship recognizes the necessity of microbial communities in sustaining human health, and emphasizes the imperative to protect them through policy and other action. Recognizing the importance of microbiome stewardship is a critical step, but we also lack the clear articulation needed to guide its implementation in policy and practice. We need a broadly applicable and inclusive definition of microbiome stewardship, a framework that can guide principles for implementation, and tools to assess microbiome health and to support informed decision making.


Kieran C. O’Doherty

Kieran C. O’Doherty

Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Guelph

Rob Beiko

Rob Beiko

Head of the Algorithms and Bioinformatics Research, Dalhousie University

Sue Ishaq

Sue Ishaq

Assistant Professor of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Maine

Emma AllenVercoe

Emma AllenVercoe

Professor of Microbiology, University of Guelph

Mallory Choudoir

Mallory Choudoir

Assistant Professor and Soil Microbiome Extension Specialist , North Carolina State University

Diego Silva

Diego Silva

Senior Lecturer in Bioethics, Sydney Health Ethics and the University of Sydney School of Public Health


Funding

Project Title: Articulating Microbiome Stewardship: Definition, Guiding Principles, Framework

Principal Investigator: Kieran O’Doherty, University of Guelph Co-Principal Investigators: Rob Beiko, Dalhousie University; Suzanne Ishaq, University of Maine Co-Investigators: Emma Allen-Vercoe, University of Guelph; Mallory Choudoir, North Carolina State University; Diego Silva, The University of Sydney School of Public Health

Funding Agency: Canadian Institutes of Health Research

This project aims to establish a comprehensive framework for microbiome stewardship. By developing a clear definition and set of guiding principles, the research team seeks to provide a foundation for sustainable policy and practice. A collaborative effort involving interviews, workshops, and stakeholder engagement, this work addresses the growing need for collective strategies to support human and environmental health through responsible microbiome management.