Microbiology
Microbiology (from Greek , "mīkros", "small"; , "bios", "life"; and , "-logia") is the study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, parasitology, mycology and bacteriology.
Pharmacomicrobiomics
Efforts to understand the interaction between specific xenobiotics and the microbiome have traditionally involved the use of "in vivo" as well as "in vitro" models. Recently, next generation sequencing of genomic DNA obtained from a community of microbes has been used to identify organisms within microbial communities, allowing for accurate profiles of the composition of microbes within an environment. Initiatives such as the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) have aimed to characterize the microbial composition of the oral, gut, vaginal, skin and nasal environments. This and other microbiome characterization projects have accelerated the study of pharmacomicrobiomics. An extensive understanding of the microbiome in the human body can lead to the development of novel therapeutics and personalized drug treatments that are not potentiated or activated by processes carried out by the microbiome.