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Microbes and microbiome

Making the invisible visible

Unraveling microbial communities

Microbial communities are highly diverse and so are their compositions , interactions and functions . Microbiome research focuses on the impact that these complex communities have on our health and the environment. Explore the latest research, expert tips & tricks and helpful tools for human microbiome research as well as for environmental and agricultural applications.

Characterizing particular microbes

Microbes can have both harmful and beneficial impacts on our health and the environment around us. To effectively analyze microbial targets, monitor antibiotic resistance or identify the presence of virulence genes, you need reliable and advanced techniques for their detection, identification and quantification. Explore the latest research, expert tips & tricks and helpful tools on our microbial detection hub.

From challenging samples to reliable insights

Due to the high complexity of microbial samples, they are often challenging to work with. To drive insights into the exciting field of microbiome research and microbial identification, we developed dedicated products along the complete microbial workflow. From sample stabilization and disruption to nucleic acid isolation, NGS, digital PCR, real-time PCR and PCR to digital insights –our kits and technologies support each step in the research process and are optimized for various sample types.

Microbiome FAQs

What is the microbiome?

The microbiome is the community of microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, fungi, viruses and eukaryotes) that can be found inside and on the human and animal body, as well as on plants and in the environment.

What is metagenomics?

Metagenomics, also known as community genomics, is the genetic analysis of microbial communities contained in natural living environments. It enables the analysis of the microbial diversity and ecology of a specific environment. Metagenomics provides scientists with a means to study microbes which cannot be cultured and enables them to better capture the extraordinary diversity present within microbial communities. This is achieved by next generation sequencing techniques with the ability to analyze thousands of samples in parallel. Scientists can then gain valuable insights to better understand both our own physiology and the systems of the world we live in.

What is metatranscriptomics?

Simply put, metatranscriptomics is the analysis of the gene expression of a microbiome. Microbes living in a community react to changes in the surrounding environment and to one another, and the metatranscriptome provides a real-time picture of the microbiome’s response. Next-generation sequencing, specifically RNA sequencing enables the detection of known and unknown expressed transcripts from the microbial community.