New Funding Opportunities for Mechanistic Research on Precision Probiotic Therapies July 2, 2024

https://www.nccih.nih.gov/research/blog/new-funding-opportunities-for-mechanistic-research-on-precision-probiotic-therapies?nav=govd Probiotics may have many health benefits, but it has been difficult to pin them down. One reason why is that individuals may respond differently to the same probiotic, perhaps because of differences in age, genetic background, health history, or lifestyle, or because of differences in the microorganisms living in their digestive tracts. To get the most out of probiotics, we need to take a precision medicine approach. Precision medicine, also called personalized medicine, involves a shift away from “one-size-fits-all” health care to therapies tailored for specific groups of people. To develop precision probiotic therapies, we need to understand the reasons why individuals’ responses to probiotics differ and use that knowledge to identify the people most likely to benefit from a specific probiotic treatment.