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RESEARCH ARTICLE

The future of faecal microbiota transplantation in gastrointestinal illness

Hayley Reed A B C and Jakob Begun A B D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Mater Research Institute University of Queensland Brisbane, Qld, Australia

B Faculty of Medicine The University of Queensland Qld, Australia

C Email: hayley.reed1@uq.net.au

D Email: jakob.begun@mater.uq.edu.au

Microbiology Australia 41(2) 70-74 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA20027
Published: 19 May 2020

Abstract

The gut microbiome is made up of hundreds of trillions of microorganisms that reside in a state of homeostatic balance within the healthy individual. Next generation sequencing has provided insight into the diversity of these microorganisms that reside within our gastrointestinal tract; despite developments in metabolomics and culturing techniques, the functions of many of these bacteria remain largely elusive. As such, research into the capacity of the gut microbiome to regulate immune homeostasis has revealed the importance of bacteria in human health, with the potential for exploiting these bacteria only now coming into focus.


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