Pharmacy and The Microbiome - Are they Related?

Every human is made up of 90% microbiome cells. Knowing this, it's important to understand what the microbiome is. It is defined as a collection of microorganisms that resides in an environment, creating a “mini-ecosystem”. The human microbiome is made up of communities of various types of microbes. Pharmacy colleges in India and around the world teach students in detail about these different types.

However, to generalize, these communities are unique to each human and consists of different clusters. There is a different set of microbiome on your skin, in your mouth, and your gut. Some of these bacterias are simply using you as a free ride, others live in a mutually beneficial relationship, and perhaps the most dangerous of them all are the pathogens. Pathogens are small in number and don’t always cause any harm but they do carry life-threatening diseases.

Since one of the many responsibilities of a pharmacist is to invent medication to treat humans and animals, pharmacy colleges make it a point to teach microbiology in their curriculum. Question is how does pharmacy and microbiology work together to make the world a safer place for humans and animals alike?

Pharmacists need to understand how these organisms work. This is what leads them to make great discoveries in the form of vaccines and antibiotics. For instance, human insulin for diabetes is derived entirely from microbes. However, not all bacterias in the microbiome are harmful. The job of eliminating dangerous pathogens without harming the rest is tasked to pharmacists and microbiologists.

Some of the top pharmacy colleges in Bangalore and other cities understand that pharmacy and microbiology go hand in hand. Therefore they conduct practical sessions to let their students better understand this delicate relationship between medicine and the microbiome.