Human Microbiome Project

The overall mission of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) is to generate resources to facilitate characterization of the human microbiota to further understanding of how the microbiome impacts human health and disease. The initial phase of the project, HMP1, established in 2008, characterized the microbial communities from 300 healthy individuals, across several different sites on the human body: nasal passages, oral cavity, skin, gastrointestinal tract, and urogenital tract. 16S rRNA sequencing was performed to characterize the complexity of microbial communities at each body sites. Metagenomic whole genome shotgun (wgs) sequencing was used to provide insight into the functions and pathways present in the human microbiome.

HMP1 was an interdisciplinary effort comprising four sequencing centers -- the Broad Institute, the Baylor College of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, and the J. Craig Venter Institute, the Data Analysis and Coordination Center (DACC), and several investigators. This project, which ended in 2013, was the first part of a two-phase effort focused on the microbial communities.