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EIT Food

The Human Microbiome

EIT Food via edX

Overview

Context

The human microbiota is a vast collection of symbiotic microbial cells, comprising between 10 to 100 trillion that resided within every individual. This community of bacteria, viruses and fungi that inhabits the human body plays a crucial role in human physiology and disease.

The understanding of the link between the human microbiome and disease is rapidly expanding and this is a valuable area for the improvement of human health. The daily choices people make regarding their diet, exercise routine and hygiene can have a profound impact on their microbiota, making it crucial to understand this relationship.

To promote healthier behaviour, it’s vital to have a deeper understanding of these microorganisms and their impact in human health. This knowledge can empower individuals to make more informed and sustainable decisions regarding their lifestyle, which can ultimately improve their overall well-being.

Solution

To overcome the general lack of knowledge related to the microbiome and help with the understanding of the symbiotic relation between microbes and the human body, EIT Food has developed this short online course to enable anyone that is interested in the subject to understand and discuss how the microbiome affects our daily lives.

This course title is “The Human Microbiome”. It is composed of 12 hours of learning broken down in 3 modules.

On this course, you will look at the links between the human microbiome and diseases, and the role of food in microbiome modulation. You will discuss microbiome complexities and its function in the gastrointestinal tract. You will also learn how the human microbiome changes throughout the human life.

Ambition

Our mission is to help everyone understand what the microbiome is and how it works. We want to empower individuals with the necessary knowledge to improve their health and make wiser decisions concerning their habits in daily life. Through EIT Food online course, we aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the latest research and insights into the link between health and microbiome for any individual that could be interested.

High level contributors

This course has been designed for anyone with an interest in the subjects related to the human microbiome, how food can influence it, and how this resultantly impacts on human health, and has been produced by the University of Turin, with content provided by the University of Reading, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Microbion and Quadram Bioscience Institute

Syllabus

This course focuses on:

  • The human microbiome, role in human health and how it changes during life

  • How can we determine our gut microbiota

  • The role of food and lifestyle in the modulation of human gut microbiome

  • The human microbiota and prevention of diseases through microbiota-directed foods

Taught by

Luca Cocolin, Maria Traka, Marta Olivares and Anisha Wijeyesekera

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