Hybrid Medical Animation

A fly-over of the human gut microbiome – a huge, diverse range of many different types of bacteria residing inside our small and large intestine.

This sequence was created for an episode (for WebMD) that examines how the gut microbiome may influence cancer response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Essentially, if a patient has melanoma, the types of bacteria in their gut may help determine if the cancer responds to checkpoint inhibitor therapy or not.

There are trillions of microbes in our gastrointestinal tract, around 90% of which are bacteria.

Our microbiome has a profound impact on our well-being and can affect us in several different ways – both beneficial and harmful. In recent years, scientists and researchers have discovered correlations between the composition of an individual’s microbiome and their wider health, including obesity, mental health, bowel disease, and the immune system. 

Further advances need to be made in learning more about actual causation – and which effects come from which individual microbes.