A new method for assessing the microbiome of the human gut
phys.org
The gut microbiome—the population and variety of bacteria within the intestine—is thought to influence a number of behavioral and disease traits in humans. Most obviously, it affects intestinal health. Cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and celiac disease, for example, are all affected by the gut microbiome.

Starter comment: This new technique uses glass beads to break the membranes of larger human cells in a sample, while maintaining the integrity of smaller bacterial cells. This allows the use of enzymes to wash away the human cell contents, leaving only bacterial cells when DNA testing is performed. The idea is to make clinical testing and characterization of human gut microbiome samples faster and more precise.

Link to study (pay walled): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-023-02025-4