Dennis Mangan and the Microbiome

Dental immunologist Dennis Mangan suspected the relation between persistent microbes and pathogens and human health. In 2002, while an NIDCR grants officer, Mangan founded the multi-institute Microbial Biofilms Research Program. After new technology made study of the entire microbiome feasible, Mangan became the first director of the NIH Human Microbiome Project, launched in 2007.