--- title: Next Generation Antibiotics May Come from Your Own Gut description: There’s a universe of friendly bacteria living within us, and they may be the next source of powerful drugs, including antibiotics canonical: https://time.com/3341260/diy-drugs-antibiotics-could-soon-be-made-out-of-your-own-bacteria/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-12T19:21:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:09:50.102Z article:section: Health og:title: DIY Drugs: Antibiotics Could Soon Be Made Out of Your Own Bacteria og:description: There’s a universe of friendly bacteria living within us, and they may be the next source of powerful drugs, including antibiotics og:url: https://time.com/3341260/diy-drugs-antibiotics-could-soon-be-made-out-of-your-own-bacteria/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90e0f601c69c22d5/6986a3203617602cc590dd4e/186805315.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5616 og:image:height: 3159 og:image:alt: 186805315 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: DIY Drugs: Antibiotics Could Soon Be Made Out of Your Own Bacteria twitter:description: There’s a universe of friendly bacteria living within us, and they may be the next source of powerful drugs, including antibiotics twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90e0f601c69c22d5/6986a3203617602cc590dd4e/186805315.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # DIY Drugs: Antibiotics Could Soon Be Made Out of Your Own Bacteria > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a63978bd-c56c-4667-8ab7-7a6e6a242ad2&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | Subscribers | Open rate | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | 540,000 | 45.6% | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | 430,000 | 50.7% | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Daily | 240,000 | 54.1% | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Tuesday and Saturday (2x per week) | 40,000 | 31.7% | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | 85,000 | 37.0% | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | 40,000 | 34.2% | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | 25,000 | 28.6% | Source: TIME, August 2026. Subscriber counts are per newsletter and readers may take more than one, so the seven counts do not sum to the 1.1 million+ unique newsletter audience. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Highest open rate | 54.1%, Health Matters | TIME, August 2026 | | Largest list | 540,000, The Brief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a63978bd-c56c-4667-8ab7-7a6e6a242ad2&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=a63978bd-c56c-4667-8ab7-7a6e6a242ad2&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (daily health), Worth Your Time (culture, twice weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Sep 12, 2014 7:21 PM UTC  Our own gut bacteria may be the next source of antibiotics Our own gut bacteria may be the next source of antibiotics dra\_schwartz—Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Sep 12, 2014 7:21 PM UTC Scientists have known for a long time that there’s no better drug-maker than nature. A third of our medicines come from plants and microbes so it’s not such a surprise that the millions of bacteria that inhabit our gut, mouths, nose, skin and reproductive tracts—called our microbiome—might be an untapped resource for new drugs. That’s what Michael Fischbach, an assistant professor in the department of bioengineering at the University of California, San Francisco, was counting on, and, he reports in the journal _Cell,_ he was right. He and his team analyzed the genomes of microbes living in various parts of the human body, and using an algorithm they developed called ClusterFinder, they found 3,118 groups of genes that churned out drug-like molecules. This suggests that these groups of genes could be a rich trove of potentially new drugs or other important compounds that keep our bodies healthy. “When the results of the search came back, it was a eureka moment,” he says. “It was a big surprise to us, because in retrospect the human microbiome was one place we hadn’t thought to look,” he says of the results. **MORE:** The Good Bugs: How the Germs in Your Body Keep You Health Not satisfied with simply identifying the bacteria that make these small molecules, Fischbach also wanted to see if any of them were making drugs that could prove useful in treating human disease. And indeed, he found that some made antibiotics that mimiced those developed by pharmaceutical companies and are already on the market. To see how effective a human microbiome-based antibiotic might be, he isolated one of these gene products from the vaginal microbiome of a Texas woman. Dubbed _lactocillin_, it turned out to be a strong antibiotic against some familiar infections, including _Staphylococcus aureus_ and _Enterococcus faecalis_, but not against _E. coli_. In fact, a compound similar to _lactocillin_ is being developed by Novartis as a new member of the antibiotic class. The results were so robust, says Fischbach, that “we completely changed what we are working on. We stopped working on soil bacteria and started working on gut, skin and oral bacteria.” While he doesn’t expect that most of the genes will yield antibiotics, he is confident that they will produce other critically important compounds that are important in regulating our immune systems, for example, and in keeping our metabolism—the way we burn calories and store fat—in check. Those compounds may explain some of the other intriguing things scientists are learning about the microbiome: that the community of bacteria in the guts of [normal weight people differ from those of obese individuals](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1972947%5F1973044%5F1973049,00.html), for example, and that different bacterial communities might be responsible for everything from [cancer](http://healthland.time.com/2013/11/05/colon-cancers-newest-culprit-gut-bacteria/) to allergies and asthma. That’s why he’s eager to move on to the next steps, triaging the thousands of genes he’s identified to tease out those that make drug-like molecules, and then systematically figuring out what those molecule do. That will lead to a better understanding of how we might be able to exploit them—either by making the same molecules in a lab or transplanting the right communities of bacteria to the gut or other places and putting the microbes to work for us. **MORE:** [Colon Cancer’s Newest Culprit: Gut Bacteria](http://healthland.time.com/2013/11/05/colon-cancers-newest-culprit-gut-bacteria/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3341260/diy-drugs-antibiotics-could-soon-be-made-out-of-your-own-bacteria/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3341260/diy-drugs-antibiotics-could-soon-be-made-out-of-your-own-bacteria/"},"headline":"DIY Drugs: Antibiotics Could Soon Be Made Out of Your Own Bacteria","datePublished":"2014-09-12T19:21:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:09:50.102Z","description":"There’s a universe of friendly bacteria living within us, and they may be the next source of powerful drugs, including antibiotics","url":"https://time.com/3341260/diy-drugs-antibiotics-could-soon-be-made-out-of-your-own-bacteria/","keywords":["medicine","Drugs","antibiotics","microbiome"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90e0f601c69c22d5/6986a3203617602cc590dd4e/186805315.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90e0f601c69c22d5/6986a3203617602cc590dd4e/186805315.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"186805315","caption":"186805315","creditText":"dra_schwartz—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/medicine/","name":"medicine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3341260/diy-drugs-antibiotics-could-soon-be-made-out-of-your-own-bacteria/","name":"DIY Drugs: Antibiotics Could Soon Be Made Out of Your Own Bacteria"}}]}] ```