AI helps explain your microbiome

Can the tiny microbes on your leg reveal your age, or that you smoke? Or that you are menopausal? Billions of microbes live on our skin, they help maintain skin condition, they are our first line of defense from external pathogens and can impact how we respond to treatment. These microbes, which are one tenth the size of human cells, are part of the human microbiome which consists of the collective genome of microbes inhabiting the human body, including bacteria, archaea, viruses, and fungi. A better understanding of our microbiome could help improve overall health and wellbeing and accelerate the development of personalized treatments (including prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics).