CeMeT GmbH (Center for Metagenomics) has recently been established in Tübingen in the STERN BioRegion to analyse the genetic information of microorganisms in the human body and drive forward diagnostics and treatments. The company is now offering its services to doctors and scientists who want to analyse the composition of microorganisms in a particular habitat. CeMeT GmbH is currently looking for partners to collaborate on studying the correlation between certain microorganisms and diseases.

The human body contains many microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites. Microbiota – the microorganisms of a defined habitat – can often be useful and indeed indispensable, as is the case for digestion and immune defences, for instance. However, they can also encourage the development of diseases such as intestinal inflammation, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, asthma and obesity. An adult’s intestinal flora makes up one to two kilograms of his/her body weight. The microbiome in the intestine alone has some 100 trillion cells – ten times more than all the other cells in the human body put together.

CeMeT GmbH (Center for Metagenomics) was established in Tübingen in July 2014 in order to analyse and evaluate the metagenome – i.e. the full range of genomic information – of these microbiota. Analysing the metagenome is intended to provide information on how particular microorganisms are linked to diseases so that new prophylactics and treatments can be developed. For instance, the targeted intake of certain probiotics could help medication work more effectively or even replace it. Furthermore, metagenome analysis can often provide more information on pathogens than conventional methods, which are frequently dependent on pathogen cultivation.

The company aims in the near future to act as a service provider for doctors and scientists who require analysis of a particular metagenome – for instance, in order to diagnose a disease. However, private clients interested in the composition of their metagenome can also request an analysis from CeMeT GmbH. The newly established company is now looking for potential project partners to collaborate with so as to apply for funding from the German government or the European Union.

The founders of CeMeT GmbH include Managing Director Dr. Dirk Biskup from the Tübingen-based genetic diagnostics company CeGaT GmbH, Prof. Dr. Ingo Autenrieth, a specialist in microbiology, virology and infectious disease epidemiology at the Institute of Microbiology and Hygiene at the University Hospital of Tübingen, Prof. Dr. Daniel Huson, Professor of Algorithms in Bioinformatics at the University of Tübingen and a professor at SCELSE at the Nanyang University of Technology in Singapore, and Prof. Dr. Detlef Weigel, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen and a leading researcher on evolution and genomics. These founders will serve as the company’s scientific advisory committee.

CeMeT GmbH is the first German company with expertise of this kind to focus exclusively on the metagenome of the microbiota in one ecosystem. Managing Director Isabell Flade is fully confident that the work by CeMeT GmbH will provide answers to crucial diagnostics questions: “By determining the metagenome, we soon hope to be able to identify the risk factors for particular diseases, which can then be treated individually using special probiotics or targeted antibiotic treatments.”