Published by Springer Nature, Best Practice in Microbiome Research draws on the depth and breadth of experience and expertise in the Quadram Institute in microbiome research.

The Quadram Institute is a major UK national science capability, strategically supported by the UKRI-Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to deliver healthier lives through innovation in gut health, microbiology and food.

A key part of its BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme is to understand the role of the microbiome in our health, to lead to new ways of keeping us all healthier for longer.

Microbiome research has surged in recent years, as we recognise its major impact on health, but also driven by faster, more powerful and more accessible omics-based technologies for characterising microbiome composition and function.

But translating microbiome research into the clinic has been challenging, in part due to a plethora of different approaches taken in individual studies, making them difficult to reproduce, or combine to develop a holistic picture of how microbes influence health.

To help promote a more standardised approach, the Quadram Institute’s research team have pulled together a set of protocols developed, optimised and applied across all aspects of the institute’s microbiome studies.

These are now being made freely available to the global research community, via an open access book: Best Practice in Microbiome Research hosted on Springer Nature Link as part of its Springer Protocols Handbooks book series. A print copy is also available to buy.

The book presents protocols covering the design of ethical, inclusive studies, sample collection and genomic sequencing, bioinformatics processing of data and statistical analysis. In an ever-advancing landscape, the protocols draw on the most cutting-edge techniques and technologies.

Going beyond gut bacteria, the book also encompasses sampling and analysis of microbiomes other than from the gastrointestinal tract, and chapters deal with analysis of the viral and fungal elements.

Each protocol is presented in an easy-to-follow step by step format to aid reproducibility, with illustrations, notes and advice from the experts.

Best Practice in Microbiome Research was edited by Professor Simon Carding, who heads the Quadram’s BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme on the Gut Microbiome and Health.

Quadram Institute Director, Professor Daniel Figeys, said: “Research into the gut microbiome is still a relatively new field and it is important that we, as scientists, share our expertise and knowledge with the wider community. Open access is important for us all and I am proud the Quadram team has put in the hard work to make this possible.”

Best Practice in Microbiome Research

©2026X, 235 p. 15 illus.

link.springer.com/book/9781071650097 

• eBook ISBN
• 978-1-0716-5009-7
• Print ISBN
• 978-1-0716-5008-0

This work was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) through the Institute Strategic Programme awards Gut Microbes and Health BB/R012490/1 and Food, Microbiome and Health [BB/X011054/1] and their constituent projects.