Microbial Self: Microbes and Identity

Catalog description

What is self? What is identity? Do our perceptions of self and identity change over our lifetimes? This course discusses fundamental questions about biological concepts of self and identity, which are changing in the current era of genomics, as we are starting to appreciate ourselves better in the context of our environments. An emerging concept in biology is the link between self and the microbiome. Historically viewed as harmful pathogens, non-pathogenic microbes are vital for our existence and they are omnipresent in human bodies and the environment. These microbes change over our lifetimes mirroring our development from infancy to adulthood. Does this microbial development influence our perception of self?