Clinical and Research Microbiome Center

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Clinical and Research Microbiome Lab

Clinical and Research Microbiome Center at Rambam

Rambam’s Microbiome Center brings together a team of top scientists whose field of expertise is the human microbiome and its role in the promotion of health. The Center is at the forefront of this growing field, having leveraged its professional expertise together with Rambam’s world-class healthcare ecosystem, which includes advanced research labs, topnotch medical departments and a teaching faculty.

Who we are


The Microbiome Center promotes multidisciplinary collaborations with clinicians and researchers from within Rambam and around the world who want to dive into the microbiome world. The center is headed by Dr. Milena Pitashny, MD, an experienced Clinical Microbiologist who completed her postdoctoral trainings in both Immunology (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) and Microbiome Research and Therapeutic Microbiology (Baylor College of Medicine). Her most important contributions are the combination of a clinical background with best laboratory standards in biobanking, molecular diagnostics and preparation of microbiome transplants.
Dr. Haggai Bar-Yoseph, MD, a Gastroenterologist with a postdoc in Microbiology and Microbiome Research (University of British Columbia), brings together his experience in the clinical grounds, basic and clinical research, with a strong orientation in the therapeutic potential of microbiome transplants and nutrition.
The Center has a scientific Consortium which comprises a multidisciplinary team of experts, each of whom contribute unique experience and expertise. The Microbiome Consortium includes Dr. Pitashny and Dr. Bar-Yoseph, as well as Dr. Rotem Lapidot, MD (Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases) and Dr. Amir Minerbi, MD PhD (Pain Relief). All members of the Consortium have vast experience in the microbiome field, pursued abroad in postdoctoral fellowships, including clinical, preclinical and data analysis experience.

 

 

What we do

 

Overall, the Microbiome Center is focused on researching the role of the microbiome in health and disease, and developing therapeutic microbiome strategies that can be used for healing unbalanced microbiomes (dysbiosis) in diverse fields of medicine. As part of routine clinical practice, the Microbiome Center treats Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI) through fecal microbiome transplants (FMT). In this process, the gut microbiome of healthy individuals is used therapeutically to restore the unbalanced microbiome of patients suffering from CDI, either in hospitalized or outpatient setups. Stool donors are thoroughly screened for potential transmissible diseases, and FMT therapy is administered in the form of capsules that contain powdered healthy microbes. In addition, this special powdered FMT product has the potential of being used in clinical trials in other fields, for example the ongoing studies on reducing gut colonization with resistant bacteria and alleviation of fibromyalgia symptoms.

The field of microbiome therapy is growing very quickly and attracting increasing global attention. Rambam’s Microbiome Center is poised to play a leading role in promoting and supporting innovative research in this promising field.

 Our services

Rambam’s professional teams and cutting-edge facilities offer a comprehensive all-inclusive solution to researchers and commercial entities who are developing therapies and products in this field. The Center offers guidance throughout the research process, and support on a variety of steps, from study design, specimen collection and storage, to sequencing and bioinformatic analysis.
Proposed services include feasibility studies, preclinical studies (including animal studies), clinical trials, gathering clinical data, sequencing and metabolomics in a (wet lab), data analysis using(e-lab (bioinformatics and biostatistics e-lab), and, finally, Consortium discussion and interpreting the data. These services are available either individually in a modular manner, or as an all-in-one place package.