Matters Microbial #110: Enumerating the Microbiome

Matters Microbial #110: Enumerating the Microbiome October 3, 2025 Today Dr. Sean Gibbons, Associate Professor at the Institute for Systems Biology, returns to the #QualityQuorum to tell us about how he and his colleagues are able to listen very carefully to the microbiome to uncover important hints about health. Host: Mark O. Martin Guest: Sean Gibbons Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify Become a patron of Matters Microbial! Links for this episode Here is the article from Dr. Norm Pace and coworkers on the showerhead microbiome referenced in the podcast. Here is a nonspecialist summary of Dr. Pace's work on the showerhead microbiome and mycobacteria. Here is a link to a prior episode of this podcast with Dr. Ameet Pinto on microbiology of the water supply. Here is Dr. Gibbon's earlier visit to this podcast. An overview of the difference between microbiome and microbiota. An article about the "misnumbering" of the number of microbial to human cells in people. Here is a nonspecialist summary. An overview of metagenomics. An overview of qPCR. An overview of flow cytometry. Plato's Allegory of the Cave, discussed in this podcast. A cautionary tale about determining a cancer microbiome, as discussed in this podcast. An article by Dr. Gibbons and colleagues described in this podcast about how to estimate microbial biomass directly. An article by Dr. Gibbons and colleagues described in this podcast about how to estimate microbial growth rates in the human gut using metagenomics. An article by Dr. Gibbons and colleagues described in this podcast about how to use metagenomics to determine dietary habits. The website for Dr. Gibbon's research group. The faculty website for Dr. Gibbons at ISB. Courses on microbiome sciences online at ISB. The website for Institute for Systems Biology. Intro music is by Reber Clark Send your questions and comments to [email protected]