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Merck

Microbiome

Gut human microbiome research.

Microbiome refers to the collective genomes or genetic material of microbes. The human microbiome refers to the collection of microbiomes of the human body, which varies considerably from one person to another and among different anatomical sites. Factors that can influence the microbiome include diet, lifestyle, genetics, anatomical site, antibiotics and pathogens.

In the emerging field of microbiome research, scientists are challenged to identify and characterize unknown microbes that can be difficult to isolate, culture and study. Applications of human, animal, and environmental microbiome analyses have the potential to improve the discovery of new therapeutic and natural products. Our scientists are creating new solutions to help you culture and identify microbes for your microbiome research workflow.

To enable the discovery of novel microbes, we offer:

  • MetaPolyzme for digestion of difficult microbes and isolation of total DNA
  • DNA-free enzymes for contamination-free analysis
  • Antibodies highly specific to bacteria and bacterial components
  • Individual DNA standards and inactivated bacteria to avoid bias and increase reproducibility


Microbiome Standards

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology has created the ability to sequence microbe DNA in large volumes leading to complex microbiome sample analysis. In order to avoid bias in microbiome analysis, standardization must take center stage. Standardization is an important part of the future of microbiome and metagenomic research to generate accurate and valid data.

We offer a growing list of stand-alone individual microbial DNA and inactivated bacteria microbiome standards that are suitable for PCR, sequencing and NGS. These convenient, ready-to-use individual standards add value by allowing a specific customized control. These economical standards support microbiomics or meta-genomics workflows by increasing reproducibility and allowing reliable comparison of results lab to lab.

Microbiome Antibodies

Our microbiome antibodies portfolio includes highly specific anti bacteria and anti-bacterial components (e.g. toxins, unique proteins and lipopolysaccharides) antibodies. The antibodies are suitable to be used in various applications in order to detect and isolate specific bacteria. Our antibodies are suitable for various applications including: ELISA, WB, imaging and isolation.

Metagenomics Software Platform

Our Microbiome integrated services solution offers identification of microbiota using 16S amplicon sequencing (for species-level specificity) and shotgun metagenomic sequencing (for strain-level specificity and functional studies). Forthcoming updates will include metabolic profiling for the identification and relative quantification of metabolites, by screening targeted panels or untargeted metabolomics. The Metagenomic Software Platform is intuitive and easy to navigate. We have incorporated the following features:

  • Standardized and updated sequencing databases to choose from, including a proprietary 16S database (V3-V4 region)
  • Key criteria selection for QC processing of sequencing data
  • Statistical and graphical analysis of microbiome communities
  • Tools for taxonomic classification of bacteria within a single sample to inter-sample comparative analysis


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