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Equitable partnerships and the path to inclusive, innovative and impactful human microbiome research

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Practical recommendations on achieving equitability in biomedical research can advance essential efforts to balance research representation. In this Comment, we highlight how to generate interoperable and robust datasets, engage in thoughtful partnerships with researchers across geographies and cultures, and embrace innovative opportunities to push microbiome research beyond the gut and beyond bacteria.

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Fig. 1: Improving representation in microbiome research.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank D. Maghini and S. Hazelhurst for their thoughtful insights and partnership in an equitable research space, the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health and the nonprofit Global Oncology, Inc. for their partnership and guidance in learning how to carry out more equitable research. O.H.O. is supported by the AWI-Gen project grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute (U54HG006938) as part of the H3A Consortium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Ovokeraye H. Oduaran

  2. Department of Medicine (Hematology), Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Ami S. Bhatt

  3. Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Ami S. Bhatt

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  1. Ovokeraye H. Oduaran
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  2. Ami S. Bhatt
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Correspondence to Ami S. Bhatt.

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Related links

Human Microbiome Initiative of select endogamous populations of India: https://dbtindia.gov.in/scientific-decision-units/computational-biology/genome-india-and-microbiome

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Oduaran, O.H., Bhatt, A.S. Equitable partnerships and the path to inclusive, innovative and impactful human microbiome research. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 19, 683–684 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-022-00689-5

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