To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive prospective study investigating the longitudinal impact of acute HIV-1 infection in an HIV-1 hyperendemic area such as the Manhiça district in Mozambique. This unique study confirms and extends previous findings in non-human primate models and provides critical insights into the impact of infections in the gut microbiome as well as into the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection.

Hunting for foods that can help infants build strong immune systems would traditionally have researchers trial potential foods with infants, then do blood analysis to see if there were positive benefits. We describe a technique that dramatically narrowed the efforts required in identifying potential weaning foods to test a boost of infant immunity in clinical trials.

The prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) that make up the majority of our microbial inhabitants (the microbiota) are known to engage in horizontal gene transfer (HGT) i.e., gene transfer among lineally unrelated individuals. The ‘holobiont’ perspective considers the human (or other macroscopic organism) and the associated microbial community as a composite organism. Can ecological and evolutionary considerations inform our analyses of gene transfer within the prokaryotic component of the microbiota, and do these analyses gain from a holobiontic perspective? This is the theme of my synthetic review published in Microbiome.