西亚试剂：Four functions of an International Microbiome Initiative

As long as communities are prepared to start afresh and conform to new ground rules, we believe that an IMI could succeed where other efforts to achieve standardization and coordination have struggled. Such a project would be ahead of the curve, because the tools needed to explore the world's microbes have only recently become available. Also, if multiple working groups with representatives from across the life sciences were established — similar to those set up by an effort to assess marine organisms called the Census of Marine Life — an IMI could be much broader in scope than any pre-existing programme.

Finally, an IMI would be able to solve the data sharing and intellectual-property issues that have been stumbling blocks for previous efforts, by organizing and controlling access to the metadata that are so essential for interpreting results, publishing papers and filing patents.

It is crucial that the IMI is launched quickly to avoid corrective actions having to be applied after-the-fact to national efforts. We invite private foundations that have been pivotal in mounting international research efforts to support an IMI. These include the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation with its Marine Microbiology Initiative, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation with its Census of Marine Life, the Kavli Foundation with its Brain Initiative, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with its Global Health Program.

We also encourage national funding agencies to open up their programmes to international collaborations and to adopt any standards established by an IMI. Finally, we urge scientists to help make an IMI happen by sharing their data.

So much can be gained by creating an IMI. Further uncoordinated national microbiome programmes will almost certainly waste research efforts and taxpayers' money. Let's transcend national silos and gain universal insights that will benefit all humankind.

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