MBL, UChicago scientists attend launch of National Microbiome Initiative

On May 13, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced the National Microbiome Initiative (NMI) to foster the integrated study of microbiomes across different ecosystems. In attendance at the launch in Washington, D.C., were (left to right) David Mark Welch, director of the Marine Biological Laboratory's Bay Paul Center and associate director of The Microbiome Center, a collaborative initiative of the MBL, the University of Chicago, and Argonne National Laboratory; Eugene Chang, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago; Jack Gilbert, professor of surgery at the University of Chicago, faculty director of The Microbiome Center, and MBL Fellow; Zoe Cardon, senior scientist at the MBL Ecosystems Center and co-author of an editorial by NMI participants highlighting issues addressed by the initiative; and Erin Lane, executive director of The Microbiome Center.