Overview of the Microbiome Among Nurses study (Micro-N) as an example of prospective characterization of the microbiome within cohort studies

• Published in: Nature protocols Vol. 16; no. 6; pp. 2724 - 2731
• Main Authors: Everett, Christine, Li, Chengchen, Wilkinson, Jeremy E., Nguyen, Long H., McIver, Lauren J., Ivey, Kerry, Izard, Jacques, Palacios, Natalia, Eliassen, A. Heather, Willett, Walter C., Ascherio, Alberto, Sun, Qi, Tworoger, Shelley S., Chan, Andrew T., Garrett, Wendy S., Huttenhower, Curtis, Rimm, Eric B., Song, Mingyang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.06.2021; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/1647/2234; 631/326/2565/2134; 692/53; Adult; Aged; Analytical Chemistry; Biological Techniques; Biomarkers; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cohort analysis; Computational Biology/Bioinformatics; Digestive organs; Environmental factors; Epidemiology; Feces; Female; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Health aspects; Humans; Life Sciences; Metadata; Microarrays; Microbiomes; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Middle Aged; Modulators; Nurses; Oral mucosa; Organic Chemistry; Perspective; Physiological aspects; Prospective Studies; Public health; Specimen Handling - instrumentation; Specimen Handling - methods; Surveys and Questionnaires; United States
• ISSN: 1754-2189; 1750-2799; 1750-2799
• DOI: 10.1038/s41596-021-00519-z

A lack of prospective studies has been a major barrier for assessing the role of the microbiome in human health and disease on a population-wide scale. To address this significant knowledge gap, we have launched a large-scale collection targeting fecal and oral microbiome specimens from 20,000 women within the Nurses’ Health Study II cohort (the Microbiome Among Nurses study, or Micro-N). Leveraging the rich epidemiologic data that have been repeatedly collected from this cohort since 1989; the established biorepository of archived blood, urine, buccal cell, and tumor tissue specimens; the available genetic and biomarker data; the cohort’s ongoing follow-up; and the BIOM-Mass microbiome research platform, Micro-N furnishes unparalleled resources for future prospective studies to interrogate the interplay between host, environmental factors, and the microbiome in human health. These prospectively collected materials will provide much-needed evidence to infer causality in microbiome-associated outcomes, paving the way toward development of microbiota-targeted modulators, preventives, diagnostics and therapeutics. Here, we describe a generalizable, scalable and cost-effective platform used for stool and oral microbiome specimen and metadata collection in the Micro-N study as an example of how prospective studies of the microbiome may be carried out. This Perspective from the Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center describes a generalizable and scalable approach to stool and oral microbiome and metadata collection in the Micro-N (Microbiome Among Nurses) study, to show how to carry out prospective studies of the microbiome.