The Current and Future State of Department of Defense (DoD) Microbiome Research: a Summary of the Inaugural DoD Tri-Service Microbiome Consortium Informational Meeting
Sarah Glaven,
Kenneth Racicot,
Dagmar H. Leary,
J. Philip Karl,
Steven Arcidiacono,
Blair C. R. Dancy,
Linda A. Chrisey,
Jason W. Soares
Affiliations
Sarah Glaven
Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA
Kenneth Racicot
Combat Feeding Directorate, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center, Natick, Massachusetts, USA
Dagmar H. Leary
Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA
J. Philip Karl
Military Nutrition Division, U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, Massachusetts, USA
Steven Arcidiacono
Soldier Performance Optimization Directorate, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center, Natick, Massachusetts, USA
Blair C. R. Dancy
U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland, USA
Linda A. Chrisey
Office of Naval Research, Naval Biosciences, Warfighter Protection & Applications Division, Arlington, Virginia, USA
Jason W. Soares
Soldier Performance Optimization Directorate, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center, Natick, Massachusetts, USA
ABSTRACT The Tri-Service Microbiome Consortium (TSMC) was recently established to enhance collaboration, coordination, and communication of microbiome research among Department of Defense (DoD) organizations. The TSMC aims to serve as a forum for sharing information related to DoD microbiome research, policy, and applications, to monitor global advances relevant to human health and performance, to identify priority objectives, and to facilitate Tri-Service (Army, Navy, and Air Force) collaborative research. The inaugural TSMC workshop held on 10 to 11 May 2017 brought together almost 100 attendees from across the DoD and several key DoD partners. The meeting outcomes informed attendees of the scope of current DoD microbiome research efforts and identified knowledge gaps, collaborative/leveraging opportunities, research barriers/challenges, and future directions. This report details meeting presentations and discussions with special emphasis on Tri-Service labs’ current research activities.
