This module will introduce you to some basic facts about microbes. We will look at some of the characteristics that microorganisms (specifically bacteria) have and some of their strategies that enable them to thrive and survive. This knowledge about the inner workings of microbial structure and function is designed to help you understand how disease occurs at a more physiological level. 

Lessons covered in this module include:

• Comparing anaerobic versus aerobic respiration
• Understanding how bacteria divide and multiply
• The differences between eukaryotes versus prokaryotes
• Endogenous and exogenous infections
• Susceptibility to infection
• How bacteria evades the host immune system

This module will introduce you to the anatomy of the Gastrointestinal (GI) tract and the microbiota that resides there. 

Lessons covered in this module include:

• The GI Tract and its various components
• How the human host maintains its microbiota
• What species of bacteria live in the gut

It is critical to know the kind of ‘bugs’ that inhabit our gut so that we can understand their role in health and disease. This module briefly touches on the various cellular domains with a particular emphasis of the bacteria domain. Then, we identify the main players involved in our gut health and how changes in their composition (through host behaviour) may influence disease states. 

Lessons covered in this module include:

• A classification of microorganisms
• Firmicutes and Bacteroides — their role in health and disease
• How diet and the environment might affect gut health through the modification of the microbiota

Microbes inhabit almost every part of the human body and they play major roles in our health and wellbeing. Changes in the host environment can affect the delicate balance between microbe and host and as a consequence — lead to disease.  This module will explore some tissue types and their resident microbes, with a special focus on the role of microbes in the gut and inflammatory bowel disease and the concept of the ‘leaky’ gut syndrome.

Lessons covered in this module include:

1. Bacteria — what kinds live on us and in us and the various kinds of infections they can cause
2. How ulcers are formed
3. Inflammatory bowel disease
4. The theory of the leaky gut
5. SIBO versus IBS-related symptoms

From the day we are born until the day we die, our microbiota is with us. During adulthood the microbiota is relatively stable; however, infants and the elderly represents stages in life where the microbiota is in flux. Module 6 introduces you to the mother and child and their unique microbial relationship. We also explore the aging process on the microbiota and how changes in our health over our lifespan can affect the composition of the microbiota.

Lessons covered in this module include:

• The effect of natural birth versus C-section on the child’s microbiota
• The hygiene hypothesis — how a lower incidence of childhood infections may lead to disorders and disease in later life
• Changes in our microbiota as we advance in age

The “biotic” field is enormous and growing at such a rapid rate. Antibiotics are so over-prescribed; given out like candy, and are having huge implications on our health and the healthcare system due to bacteria developing antibiotic resistance to these drugs. Furthermore, what impact are antibiotics having on our natural microbiota?  And what about the more health-beneficial ‘biotics’, pro- and prebiotics? How are these interacting with our natural microflora? This module aims to answer some of these questions.

Lessons covered in this module include:

• The rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria
• Strategies aimed to reduce antibiotic resistance
• How antibiotics affect the microbiota
• The positive health benefits of pre- and pro-biotics

Obesity is a global issue. Once thought of as a western issue, obesity is now becoming epidemic in developing countries. Lifestyle, poor nutritional status, the environment and genetics all interplay in a complex manner to produce the obesity phenotype. Recently, another complex process has been added to this complexity: the microbiota. We now know that the microbiota plays a major role in health and disease and specifically has been linked to obesity. 

This module aims to give you an insight into how the microbiota is connected to the obese phenotype. 

Lessons covered in this module include:

• The economic, physical and psychological effects that obesity places on society and the communities in which we live
• The complex nature of obesity and its impact on the obese phenotype
• Why twin studies are an excellent model to study the obese phenotype
• Mechanisms that link the gut microbiota to obesity

This module will give you an insight into how our immune system and the microbiota are interconnected. Drawing from all of the previous modules, you will discover how the human body and our gut microbe inhabitants are truly in a symbiotic relationship that helps benefit each other in a way that maximizes the health and well-being of the organism.

Lessons covered in this module include:

• The role of the immune system and inflammation
• The factors that must be present in order for a microorganism to cause human disease, including host genetics and the specific tissue localization of the microorganism
• The importance of the mucosal firewall
• The role of sex in determining autoimmune disorders and disease.

The microbial-host interactions in health and disease are highly complex. In this context, several technologies are making progress to understand these interactions but it will take many years before scientists fully comprehend the enormous complexity of these systems. Technological advances in DNA sequencing to identify specific microbial species are emerging, as are technologies aimed at analyzing host-microbe interactions, however these are still limiting in sensitivity and specificity. Accordingly, this final module will introduce you to some of those technologies and what the future might hold for therapeutic opportunities to treat disease and improve health outcomes. 

Lessons covered in this module include:

• Global projects involved in understanding human health and the microbiota/microbiome. 
• The advantages and pitfalls of DNA sequencing to identify microbial species
• The microbiome and the future of medicine — Important questions that need to be answered 
• Technological resources that are needed to move forward to fully comprehend the complexity of the human-microbial interaction and interface