White House launches National Microbiome Initiative
On Friday, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced the National Microbiome Initiative (NMI), which will seek to enhance the understanding of microbiome behavior and promote healthy microbiome function. The initiative, which is not specific to the human microbiome, stated three goals: encouraging and investing in interdisciplinary research involving microbiomes; developing platform technologies; and expanding the "microbiome workforce," including through investments in new faculty and fellowships.
OSTP said the NMI will include more than $121 million in federal investments in FY16 and FY17 for "cross-ecosystem microbiome studies." The investments are to include $20 million from NIH for microbiome-related research grants, with an emphasis on "multi-ecosystem comparison studies" and designing new tools. ...