HEALTH: Unraveling The Mysterious Function Of The Microbiome. “What function does your microbiome play in your health? The answer is still a mystery, but emerging scientific evidence suggests it could have implications for treating many chronic diseases. A new class of microbiome drugs in development could eventually be effective against a range of hard-to-treat disorders, including gastrointestinal, metabolic, immunologic, and even neurologic problems. . . . Most of the initial drugs in development are aimed at the gut microbiome, which is due to ‘some combination of its importance to key diseases and sampling ease,’ says Peter DiLaura, CEO of San Francisco-based Second Genome. Tissue biopsies taken during colonoscopies and fecal samples are rich sources of information about the differences between the microbiomes of healthy and sick people.”