NIH is running a project to study all the microbial cells that go along with the average healthy adult:
Within the body of a healthy adult, microbial cells are estimated to
outnumber human cells by a factor of ten to one. These communities,
however, remain largely unstudied, leaving almost entirely unknown
their influence upon human development, physiology, immunity, and
nutrition. To take advantage of recent technological advances and to
develop new ones, the NIH Roadmap has initiated the Human Microbiome
Project (HMP) with the mission of generating resources enabling
comprehensive characterization of the human microbiota and analysis of
its role in human health and disease.
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