Grant from Foundation Funds Major Study of Childhood Malnutrition - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

ST. LOUIS -- Scientists who first established a link between obesity and the trillions of friendly microbes that live in the intestine now are investigating whether the organisms can contribute to the converse: severe malnutrition.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, led by microbiologist Jeffrey Gordon, M.D., will study whether severely malnourished infants living in Malawi and Bangladesh have a different mix of intestinal microbes than healthy infants in the same areas, and whether those microbes might account for their illness. This three-year, $5.5 million project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

To read the full press release, visit the Washington University in St. Louis web site.