Australian Human Microbiome Biobank opens in Brisbane

The Australian Human Microbiome Biobank (AHMB) opened last week in Brisbane at the Translational Research Institute (TRI) with the aim of developing new diagnostic and therapeutic tools from the human microbiome, and a call for volunteers to donate their bacteria.

A $2.9 million Medical Research Future Fund National Critical Research Infrastructure grant is funding a three-year project to build a high-throughput cultivation platform to enable tens of thousands of microbial strains from the human body to be isolated then genomically characterised.

Lead investigator, Professor Gene Tyson, Director of the QUT Centre for Microbiome Research and co-founder of the human gut microbiome analysis company Microba, said the world-leading biobank would help overcome major obstacles in human microbiome research. 

“The human body is home to diverse communities of bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists and viruses, which collectively encode 150 times more genes than the human genome,” Professor Tyson said.  

“These microorganisms, known as the human microbiome, provide defence against pathogens, aid in metabolism, help regulate the immune system and produce thousands of metabolites that influence pathways throughout the body. 

“However, more than 70 per cent of microorganisms living in and on the human body have yet to be cultured in the laboratory.” 

“The development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools from the microbiome is possible only if microorganisms of interest can be isolated and studied in the laboratory,” Professor Tyson said.  

The aim of the AHMB is to allow these microorganisms to be isolated and studied to help close gaps in scientific knowledge.

The microorganisms harvested have the potential to enhance biotherapeutic opportunities, and ultimately improve patients' quality of life, in a market estimated to reach $2.6 billion in seven years. 

Microba Senior Vice President of Therapeutics, and LSQ Chair, Professor Trent Munro said the AHMB would help advance “therapeutic programs in inflammatory bowel disease, immuno-oncology and autoimmune diseases, and future potential programs.”

“Our previous research has identified new microorganisms associated with these and a range of other human diseases, and the Australian Human Microbiome Biobank will significantly enhance our ability to translate these findings into new therapies.”

Professor Tyson said the AHMB was hoping to collect and screen up to 100,000 isolated microbe samples and was calling for people to donate samples: either as stool samples, or as an oral, skin or vaginal swab sample.

In the first week since the biobank's official opening, 1,000 people registered to donate.

To find out more about the biobank, go to ahmb.com.au. Register to donate at ahmb.com.au/get-involved.

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