Unseen but omnipresent, complex networks of microbes connect and influence humans, animals, and plants. Modern science and advances in computing have made it possible to characterize the composition of microbial communities and to better understand the role they play in our world. For example, nutrients released into lakes and rivers after major rainfall can promote the overgrowth of microbes that harm fish by starving them of oxygen. These microbial “blooms” can also pose health risks to swimmers, boaters, and pets. Chronic illnesses, such as inflammatory bowel illness, obesity, and diabetes, are associated with disrupted microbial populations within our bodies; and the effect of medication or diet may itself be modulated by the specific microbes that each of us harbors.

A better understanding of microbial communities, as well as the ability to manipulate and/or engineer them, can lead to tangible solutions:

  • Imagine new therapies that account for the interaction between medication and the gut microbiome resulting in higher effectiveness with less side effects.
  • Imagine new diets designed not just to provide nutrition, but to also support the establishment of healthy microbial communities.
  • Imagine microbes in the soil bordering waterways working in conjunction with native plants to absorb excess nutrients and to remove toxins before they impact aquatic life.

The University of Maryland Center of Excellence in Microbiome Sciences, launched in 2023, is exploring these ideas and more through a combination of research, technology development, education, outreach, and partnerships.

We combine scientific knowledge of complex microbial systems with emerging technologies and data innovation to implement and share evidence-based microbiome solutions and practices designed to promote a thriving, healthier planet.

The Center fosters close collaboration between academic and industrial scientists, engineers, and practitioners from a broad range of fields, all focused on providing actionable solutions that can improve human health, agricultural prosperity, and environmental sustainability from local to global scales. We are a dynamic community that brings together faculty and students from four colleges and schools on the University of Maryland campus—the College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences, the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, and the School of Public Health.

What We Do

Our activities include:

Research Themes

Human Health Advancement

Key participants: Birthe Kjellerup (lead), Ryan Blaustein, Brantley Hall, Katharina Maisel, Margaret Slavin, and Hannah Zierden

Researchers in the Center study the impact of microbial communities on human health along a broad set of dimensions. Projects include research on human nutrition, food safety, biomimetic therapies, and wastewater surveillance.

Environmental and Agricultural Innovation

Key participants: Stephanie Yarwood (lead), Ryan Blaustein, Mostafa Ghanem, and Birthe Kjellerup

Research in this space focuses on the complex interactions, mediated by microbes, between agricultural and environmental systems. Some examples of projects include studies of soil microbial ecology and function, bioremediation of pollutants, the interaction between urban farming and food safety, and the protection of poultry from pathogens.

Technology Development

Key participants: Mihai Pop (lead), Bill Bentley, Brantley Hall, Reza Ghodssi, Huang Lin, Katharina Maisel, Sara Molinari, and Hannah Zierden

A unique feature of our center is the strong focus on the development of new technologies for extracting and analyzing data from microbial communities and for engineering microbial systems. This research includes the development of new sensing modalities, methods for engineering microbiome systems, and novel computational and statistical analysis methods.

Quantitative Microbial Dynamics and Ecosystems

Key participants: Joshua Weitz (lead), Huang Lin, and Mihai Pop

The way in which a microbiome is shaped by the complex interactions between its members, and by the interactions between the microbiome and its environment or host, cannot be effectively understood without the development of complex mathematical models of genome evolution and system dynamics. Some of the research performed in the center, for example, explores the way in which the complex interactions between phages (viruses that infect bacteria) and microbes can be used to treat antibiotic-resistant infections.