DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Title

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

Authors

Christine Everett, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Chengchen Li, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Jeremy E. Wilkinson, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Long H. Nguyen, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Lauren J. McIver, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Kerry Ivey, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Jacques Izard, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Natalia Palacios, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
A. Heather Eliassen, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Walter C. Willett, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Alberto Ascherio, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Qi Sun, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Shelley S. Tworoger, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Andrew T. Chan, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Wendy S. Garrett, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Curtis Huttenhower, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Eric B. Rimm, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Mingyang Song, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public HealthFollow

ORCID IDs

Jeremy E. Wilkinson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8024-5600

Long H. Nguyen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5436-4219

Jacques Izard http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5904-5436

Shelley S. Tworoger http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6986-7046

Mingyang Song http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1324-0316

Date of this Version

6-1-2021

Citation

Published in Nature Protocols, Vol 16 (June 2021), pp 2724–2731

doi: 10.1038/s41596-021-00519-z

Comments

Copyright © 2021 by the authors; published by Springer-Nature. Used by permission.

Abstract

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.