Tanel Tenson
Scientific Co-founder & Professor of antimicrobial compounds at the University of Tartu
Viia Kõiv
Scientific Co-founder and Scientist in plant microbiology at the University of Tartu
Elin Org
Scientific Co-founder & Senior Researcher in genomics and microbiomics at the University of Tartu
RootBioMe is a spin-off from the University of Tartu in Estonia.
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RootBioMe began with a question: "How do we help people living in urban environments improve their health by improving the diversity of their microbiomes?"
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Why?
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When compared to contemporary Western societies where more and more people live in urban environments, close to city centers and jobs, people in traditional agricultural societies have considerably more contact with soil. In addition, people living in traditional rural environments tend to eat greater amounts of different root vegetables.
Do the changes in our modern food preparation and consumption habits also lead to poorer microbial communities with less diversity? Our research says "yes".
Our studies indicate that ecological agriculture can produce vegetables with higher microbial communities when compared to intensive production. These ecologically grown vegetables containing rich microbial communities can in turn enrich our microbial communities in the gut and thereby promote health.
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At RootBioMe, we are committed to bringing this microbial richness and diversity to you.