‘Bugs’ on the subway: Monitoring the microbial environment to improve public health
For immediate release: June 28, 2016 Boston, MA – The trillions of microbes that transfer from people to surfaces could provide an early warning system for the emergence of public health threats such as a flu outbreak or a rise…
Helping a war-torn country rebuild
Student plans on returning home to Syria to practice science, influence health care policy May 10, 2016 -- Lana Awad didn’t know until she was in ninth grade that she was visually impaired because of a genetic disorder. She…
Identifying individuals by their microbial ‘companions’
Eric Franzosa, research fellow in the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, spoke on the public radio program Science Friday on May 15, 2015, about new findings that the microbial communities we carry…
Personal microbiomes shown to contain unique ‘fingerprints’
A new application of a classic algorithm uniquely identifies individuals based on their bacterial “companions” For immediate release: May 11, 2015 Boston, MA – A new study shows that the microbial communities we carry in and on our bodies—known…
Curtis Huttenhower wins top junior faculty award in bioinformatics
Curtis Huttenhower, associate professor of computational biology and bioinformatics, has been named winner of the 2015 Overton Prize from the International Society for Computational Biology. The prize recognizes early or mid-career scientists who are emerging leaders in computational…
‘Big data’ driving scientific revolution
Raw data on everything from genes to purchasing behaviors can now be collected, stored, and crunched at rates unimaginable just a few years ago. But mining this potential goldmine for scientific research can be a daunting task. Researchers…
The role of microbes in health and disease
A new phase of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP)—which over the past five years identified the millions of microorganisms living on, and in, the human body—will focus on the roles played by these microbes both in health and…
Chasing epidemics in real time
[Fall 2013 Centennial issue] As the AIDS epidemic tragically demonstrated, public health has usually been a step behind infections on the run. But today, with sophisticated molecular and communications tools, practitioners can virtually keep up stride for stride…
Our bugs, ourselves
[ Spring 2013 ] Microbes in and on our bodies outnumber human cells 10 to 1—and may determine how we get sick and stay well. The story of public health has largely been a story of conquering infections,…
Human Microbiome Project: Analyzing microbes that play a role in health and disease
February 2013 — Curtis Huttenhower, assistant professor of computational biology and bioinformatics, talks about the Human Microbiome Project and the role that microbes—organisms like bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live in the stomach, in the mouth, on the skin,…
