The first Microbiome Research Interest Group meeting will be held on May 28 from 8 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
The group, said organizer Derrick Samuelson, Ph.D., assistant professor of internal medicine-pulmonary at UNMC, is being created to facilitate collaboration across the University of Nebraska system for people who are interested in the microbiome — the genetic material of all the microbes that live inside or on the human body.
“The group will provide a common place where we can find resources that are available, establish collaborators and potentially in the future develop meaningful relationships for large, center-type grants,” Dr. Samuelson said.
The University of Nebraska system is at a point where such a group can be useful, he said.
“We’re reaching a critical mass of people who are interested in the microbiome throughout the University of Nebraska system,” Dr. Samuelson said.
“There are groups at UNMC working with microbiomes, as well as some people at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a group down there, with the Food for Health Center, doing quite a bit. So that’s three campuses already, with people doing some exciting stuff.
The event will offer a general overview of microbiome research, suggestions on how to get involved in the research, a look at the resources that are available across the University of Nebraska system and case studies.
“It should be a pretty exciting program,” Dr. Samuelson said. (See the full agenda and information to join the webinar.)
“Our goal is make researchers aware of the resources we have and to position the interest group so people can use it to establish new collaborations and apply for federal funding.”