Why We Need Microbiome Labs: The Microbiota Vault Project

The first living beings on this planet were bacteria. And they haven't gone anywhere. Experts from microbiome labs and all life evolved in the presence of bacteria, and bacteria are still a part of all living things. Or as microbial ecologist María Gloria Domínguez-Bello puts it, "Bacteria are the center of all life." That means that you and I are walking communities of bacteria. We tend to think of bacteria as harmful, and some certainly are, but most are either neutral or benefic