“Solving the Complex Mysteries of the Microbiome.” Neuroscience News, NeuroscienceNews.com, 25 Oct. 2018, neurosciencenews.com/microbiome-mystery-10091/.

The reactions that take place among the many tiny bacteria in the gut microbiome affect much of our wellbeing as humans, including our mood and even our risk of autism. “Solving the Complex Mysteries of the Microbiome” published in Neuroscience News describes how new research by Jason Papin, PhD, and Greg Medlock at the University of Virginia will provide the first step in actually understanding what each individual reaction of specific bacteria does in the microbiome. This will allow for a much more accurate assessment of what these processes ultimately contribute to human health and disease beyond the correlative information scientists currently have, namely the presence of the bacteria and a vague assessment of their functions without truly understanding the individual mechanisms. The researchers wanted a concrete answer as to which bacteria participate in which reactions and how the molecules generated in those reactions are used by other bacteria, as well as the effects of these populations existing in the system. The format of the experiment was to examine six species of bacteria individually and then to examine 15 pairs of various combinations of these species to determine how molecules were made and used in the system. The data obtained from this experiment was then used to create a computer simulation attempting to predict what would happen with the bacteria in the system. By testing these predictions, the first hard data was generated, supporting the success of a new method of experimentation in the microbiome called the “experimental and computational pipeline.” With hard data, scientists can actually manipulate and control the microbiome by increasing or decreasing levels of certain bacteria.

I currently have an internship at the Amen Clinic, which does high-tech brain scans of people who have ADHD, ADD, various symptoms of Cranial Cervical Syndrome, autism among other disorders. A specific example of the relative expertise the Amen Clinic has compared to conventional psychiatrists and neurologists is its knowledge on Cranial Cervical Syndrome. Whereas many neurologists and psychiatrists would just be puzzled if a patient walks in claiming that his or her “brain hurts,” the Amen Clinic psychiatrist I am shadowing understands that this is often caused by trauma to the head misaligning the ligaments at the base of the skull, impeding the flow of cerebrospinal fluid out ot the foramen magnum and allowing for the accumulation of various toxic proteins in the brain. However, despite being relative experts in neuroscience and various disorders, the references to the gut microbiome often made when he is describing it to the patients are comparatively vague, suggesting that this area is just relatively unknown. The ability to elucidate the specific ways in which the gut microbiome are affected by and affect the brain would likely allow for an even stronger treatment for many kinds of patients across the spectrum of neurological disorders. As the Amen Clinic and this new research has already shown, this kind of knowledge is power.

This article was very strong in describing to laymen the exact significance of the research, which is important for keeping attention and interest: it is very clear that this experiment provided a new model for generating hard data that will allow scientists to directly manipulate the gut microbiome with certainty, whereas until now the data was just correlative, making it very dangerous to attempt to manipulate specific populations and reactions. That part was extremely clear. However, one weakness of this article was that it described the actual experimentation in far too vague of a matter. For example, one still does not understand after reading how the computer simulation allows for Papin and Medlock to make predictions. This is important since the data came from evaluating predictions. A sentence or two on how exactly the computer model allows for predicting further outcomes would improve the article by giving a more clear picture of why the experiment was designed this way.