Expanding Human Resiliency
Abstract
The Expanding Human Resiliency program aims to maximize warfighter performance and resiliency by leveraging the signals of the human microbiome to improve physiology. This program will develop new technologies to control and manipulate the microbiome to enable peak human performance. Current state-of-the-art approaches are focused on metagenomics to inventory and categorize the microbes in a given sample. In order to have more precise and on-demand control of the human microbiome, technologies will be developed to elucidate the complex interactions between the microorganisms and their human host as well as the interactions between consortia of adapted and evolved microorganisms. Additional work will be performed to facilitate human functions (e.g., immunity to disease, metabolic performance, tolerance to chemical exposure, etc.) and behaviors (e.g., mood, decision making, ability to work as a cohesive team, etc.) using specific microbial consortia living in the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, skin or mouth. Advances in this area will both develop novel technologies to interrogate complex microbial communities in human systems and discover ways to beneficially harness microbiomes to expand warfighter resiliency and performance.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2020
- Source ID
- 9c2dd3f5ee37729aac0ce239e7fc93f2