Gut feeling: building a picture of Latin American microbiomes

  • 📰 Nature
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 62 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 28%
  • Publisher: 68%

United States Headlines News

Why goyoiraola is fighting geographical bias by collecting microbiome data from Latin American countries

Gregorio Iraola is head of the Microbial Genomics Laboratory at the Pasteur Institute of Montevideo in Uruguay, and a Wellcome Sanger Institute International Fellow. Credit: Pablo Albarenga forI’m in my wet lab at the Microbial Genomics Laboratory of the Pasteur Institute of Montevideo in Uruguay, which I set up in 2019.

One long-term research goal is to better understand the gut microbiome — the composition and balance of bacteria in the gut — and how it varies across populations, to help treat many conditions. It’s especially important for Latin American countries, because existing human-microbiome databases come from wealthier countries — in North America, Europe and China, especially — where much of the sampling has been done. This leads to bias.

I lead a consortium of scientists in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Peru and French Guiana. We gather data on microbiomes in these incredibly heterogeneous countries. I see it as a puzzle; we need to find pieces from across the region before we can put the picture together.

My long-term dream is to help other scientific communities to collect and analyse microbiome data, so that medical interventions make sense for local populations, diets and cultures. Once I’ve done that, perhaps I can go back to cooking — one of my hobbies — or growing vegetables. My father is a farmer in Cardona in the southwest of Uruguay, and I visit often. It’s satisfying doing worthwhile research that’s specific to this continent.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 64. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

NFTs, payments and conferences: Crypto in Latin America in 2021Between El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender and many Blockchain conferences in the region, it's safe to say 2021 was an impressive year for crypto adoption in Latin America. Buying ELMON token now is the same as buying 1$ ETH. Make sure that you won’t regret later for not buying Elemon now. Elemon 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱 ElemonGame 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 Honestly I really want to appreciate theTaloncrypto who has brought so much light into my life in a small period of time, I started investing with a minimum $5,000 & now I've earned up to $30,000 on a weekly basic I can't thank you enough theTaloncrypto 🥰精彩!转起来!
Source: Cointelegraph - 🏆 562. / 51 Read more »

5 Uplifting Moments in Latin Music This Week (February 19)Latin music news from Myke Towers, Jhay Cortez, and many more! ラテン好きですなんですか?
Source: billboard - 🏆 112. / 63 Read more »

After getting waterfront ballpark milestone, A’s messaging to Bay Area, Las Vegas differCertification a “milestone” — but was it “significant” or “necessary, but not sufficient” for A’s?
Source: OakTribNews - 🏆 597. / 51 Read more »

'We're doing everything we can to survive': High-risk, disabled Americans feel forgotten'My son looked up at me and he had tears in his eyes because he knew what it meant. He said, 'Mom, does that mean I can't go to school anymore?''
Source: ABC7NY - 🏆 592. / 51 Read more »

Harris: Americans will 'incur some costs' from Ukraine crisis as energy costs, inflation soarVice President Kamala Harris warned that Americans could feel some 'costs' of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, unwelcome news to many who are already bearing the costs of soaring inflation. Why are we so dependent on fuel with your administration Wheat prices will skyrocket. Putin’s ultimate goal is destruction of western equity & financial markets. The constant news flow on Ukraine by the media & Biden have allowed Putin to manipulate those markets along w/energy. Biden is Putin’s puppet. A real USA president would have ended Putin’s bs months ago.
Source: FoxBusiness - 🏆 458. / 53 Read more »

Latino Families Feeling the Pinch of InflationExperts explore how inflation is affecting Latino families. “Latinos are taught to save cash — if you can’t pay for things, put it in cash. The problem with cash is the value of cash stays the same, but inflation goes up year by year.' LatinoVoicesWTTW
Source: wttw - 🏆 520. / 51 Read more »