--- title: Bacteria: White House Announces Microbiome Study Initiative description: The White House announced a new initiative Friday that will study the microbiomes that make up ecosystems throughout the planet. canonical: https://time.com/4329395/white-house-microbiome-study-initiative/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-13T15:51:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:32:20.920Z article:section: Health og:title: The Government Wants to Study Your Gut og:description: A new initiative will study microbiomes, including the bacteria that live in the human gut og:url: https://time.com/4329395/white-house-microbiome-study-initiative/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Government Wants to Study Your Gut twitter:description: A new initiative will study microbiomes, including the bacteria that live in the human gut twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Government Wants to Study Your Gut  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 13, 2016 3:51 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 13, 2016 3:51 PM UTC The White House announced a [new initiative](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/05/12/fact-sheet-announcing-national-microbiome-initiative) Friday that will study [microbiomes](http://time.com/4044393/microbe-cloud-microbiome/?iid=sr-link9), the communities of bacteria that live all around us—and inside of us, particularly in our digestive system. The National Microbiome Initiative (NMI) will launch with a federal investment more than $121 million, according to a White House release, and will seek to understand and restore dysfunctional microbiomes, which can cause health and environmental problems. **Read More:** [Wine And Coffee Are Good For Your Gut, Study Shows](http://time.com/4312478/wine-coffee-microbiome-health-study/?iid=sr-link1) “Microbiomes are the communities of microorganisms that live on or in people, plants, soil, oceans, and the atmosphere,” the release explains. “Dysfunctional microbiomes are associated with issues including human chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and asthma; local ecological disruptions such as the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico; and reductions in agricultural productivity… The NMI aims to advance understanding of microbiome behavior and enable protection and restoration of healthy microbiome function.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4329395/white-house-microbiome-study-initiative/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4329395/white-house-microbiome-study-initiative/"},"headline":"The Government Wants to Study Your Gut","datePublished":"2016-05-13T15:51:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:32:20.920Z","description":"A new initiative will study microbiomes, including the bacteria that live in the human gut","url":"https://time.com/4329395/white-house-microbiome-study-initiative/","keywords":["Research","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"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/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4329395/white-house-microbiome-study-initiative/","name":"The Government Wants to Study Your Gut"}}]}] ```