Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

The virtual microbiome: A computational framework to evaluate microbiome analyses

Researchers created virtual bacterial populations mimicking real microbiome ecology to test the accuracy of standard microbiome analysis pipelines, finding that gaps in genomic databases significantly compromise microbiome characterization reliability — an issue typically overlooked in microbiome studies.

2023 PLoS ONE 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Improving the assessment of ecosystem and wildlife health: microbiome as an early indicator

Researchers reviewed evidence that the microbiome — the community of microorganisms living in environments and within animals — can serve as an early warning system for ecosystem disturbance, rapidly reflecting the impact of human activities before other signs of harm are visible.

2023 Current Opinion in Biotechnology 45 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbiome differential abundance methods produce different results across 38 datasets

Researchers compared 14 commonly used methods for identifying differentially abundant microbes across 38 microbiome datasets. They found that different methods often produced substantially different results when applied to the same data, with high rates of disagreement between tools. The study highlights that the choice of analytical method can significantly influence microbiome research conclusions and calls for greater standardization in the field.

2022 Nature Communications 866 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Humans: A Critical Review of Biomonitoring Evidence and Immune–Metabolic Associations

This review critically evaluates the current evidence on microplastic detection in human tissues and biological fluids, focusing on methodological challenges and the potential biological mechanisms of action. Researchers found significant variation across studies due to differences in analytical techniques and sample handling protocols. The study highlights emerging evidence linking microplastic presence in the body to immune and metabolic disruptions, while noting that standardized detection methods are urgently needed.

2025 Applied Sciences 1 citations
Article Tier 2

How do microplastics affect the composition and function of gut microbiota?

Researchers reviewed how microplastics may disrupt gut microbiota composition and metabolic function, noting that while dysbiosis is a likely outcome of exposure, the full extent of these effects in humans remains poorly characterized and understudied.

2026 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

The urgent need for microbiology literacy in society

This paper argues that society urgently needs better microbiology literacy to make informed decisions about issues ranging from public health to environmental management. Researchers highlight that microbes underpin critical functions in ecosystems, human health, and the biosphere, yet public understanding of microbiology remains extremely limited. The study calls for integrating microbiology education into broader scientific literacy efforts to help individuals and policymakers make better evidence-based decisions.

2019 Environmental Microbiology 177 citations
Article Tier 2

The Footprint of Microbiome in Pediatric Asthma—A Complex Puzzle for a Balanced Development

This review examines the growing body of evidence linking the human microbiome to the development of pediatric asthma. Researchers found that the composition of bacteria in the gut and respiratory tract during early childhood appears to influence whether children develop asthma. The study suggests that understanding these microbial patterns could open new approaches for preventing or managing asthma in children.

2023 Nutrients 20 citations
Article Tier 2

How do microplastics affect the composition and function of gut microbiota?

Researchers reviewed how microplastics may disrupt gut microbiota composition and metabolic function, noting that while dysbiosis is a likely outcome of exposure, the full scope of these effects in humans remains understudied.

2026 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in food - a critical approach to definition, sample preparation, and characterisation

This review critically examines how microplastics in food are defined, extracted, and analyzed across different studies, finding significant inconsistencies that make it hard to compare results. The lack of standardized methods for isolating and identifying microplastics in food means that contamination levels may be over- or underestimated. The authors call for unified research methods to enable credible assessments of how dietary microplastic exposure affects health.

2023 Food Chemistry 40 citations
Clinical Trial Tier 1

Causal relationship between gut microbiota and gastrointestinal diseases: a mendelian randomization study

This Mendelian randomization study found genetic evidence supporting a causal relationship between specific gut microbiota compositions and gastrointestinal diseases. The findings suggest that microbiome-related interventions, including microbiome-dependent metabolites, could potentially be developed to treat or manage gastrointestinal conditions.

2024 Journal of Translational Medicine 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Symbiotoxicity: The Ability of Environmental Stressors to Damage Healthy Microbiome Structure and Interactions with the Host

This review proposes the concept of symbiotoxicity to describe how environmental stressors including microplastics, chemicals, and pathogens can disrupt healthy host-microbiome interactions, arguing that damage to the microbiome should be considered a distinct endpoint in ecological risk assessment.

2023 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbiome: A forgotten target of environmental micro(nano)plastics?

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics affect the microbiome of various organisms, an area that has received less attention than other toxicological endpoints. Researchers found that most studies focused on polystyrene particles and that exposure consistently disrupted microbiome composition, triggered immune responses, and altered enzyme activity across organisms including crustaceans, fish, and mammals. The study highlights the microbiome as an important but often overlooked target of microplastic pollution.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 55 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Impact of microplastics on the intestinal microbiota: A systematic review of preclinical evidence

Across 28 preclinical studies, microplastics triggered intestinal dysbiosis characterized by increased Firmicutes and Proteobacteria and decreased Bacteroidetes, while increasing gut permeability and elevating pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6.

2022 Life Sciences 70 citations
Article Tier 2

Nexus Between Sarcopenia and Microbiome Research: A Bibliometric Exploration

Researchers conducted a bibliometric analysis of the intersection between sarcopenia and microbiome research, analyzing 997 articles from the Science Citation Index Extended Database to map scientific production, international collaboration networks, and emerging research hotspots in this growing field.

2024 Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and their interactions with microbiota

This review examines how microplastics interact with microbiota (the communities of microorganisms in the environment and in living bodies). Microplastics can carry harmful bacteria and disrupt the natural balance of microbial communities in soil, water, and the human gut. The disruption of gut microbiota by microplastics is particularly concerning because a healthy gut microbiome is essential for immune function, digestion, and overall health.

2023 Heliyon 64 citations
Article Tier 2

Global trends and hotspots of gastrointestinal microbiome and toxicity based on bibliometrics

This bibliometric analysis mapped global research trends and hotspots in gastrointestinal microbiome and toxicity studies, finding that modifications to the gut microbiome could offer new directions for treating and mitigating toxic exposures.

2023 Frontiers in Microbiology 8 citations
Article Tier 2

The Human Archaeome: Commensals, Opportunists, or Emerging Pathogens?

This review examines the human archaeome—archaeal microorganisms inhabiting the gut, skin, and other body sites—and their potential roles in health and disease. It finds no conclusive archaeal pathogens in humans but identifies indirect roles through metabolic interactions with bacteria, relevant to gut microbiome research.

2025 Preprints.org
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: Finding a consensus on the definition

This paper reviewed the history and inconsistencies in microplastic definitions across the scientific literature and proposed a new comprehensive definition incorporating size, origin, material composition, and physical state. The proposed definition aims to resolve ambiguities that have led to non-comparable data across studies and hinder regulatory decision-making.

2018 Marine Pollution Bulletin 1947 citations
Commentary Tier 3

Editorial: Probiotics for global health: advances, applications and challenges

This editorial synthesizes recent advances in probiotic research for global health applications, highlighting their potential to support host health, prevent disease, and counteract dysbiosis, while identifying key challenges in making safe and sustainable probiotic interventions more accessible.

2025 IMAGINE - Repository of the Institute of molecular genetics and genetic engineering (University of Belgrade)
Commentary Tier 3

Editorial: Probiotics for global health: advances, applications and challenges

This editorial review summarizes recent advances in probiotic research, covering their health benefits, applications in disease prevention, and challenges in scaling safe and effective probiotic interventions. The piece highlights probiotics as a promising complement to conventional therapies given the global burden of dysbiosis-related diseases.

2025 Frontiers in Microbiology 2 citations