Toward ethical human microbiome research: improving health through radical interdisciplinary and intercultural co-laboration

Abstract

As human microbiome research is globalizing, it raises ethical concerns regarding the European and North American dominance in the field, which may reproduce a colonial bias and perpetuate inequities in global health research and outcomes. We suggest disentangling this ethical quandary into three main concerns: 1) scientific bias toward European and North American populations; 2) limited meaningful community inclusion, participation, and ownership, and 3) scant significant inclusion of diverse global researchers. We then formulate three recommendations for their resolution, deploying co-laboration—joint labor of diverse partners in generating synergies between diverse disciplines, cultures, and knowledges around shared concerns—and co-laborative science—a form of citizen science based on such synergies between diverse partners—to guide meaningful inclusive, participatory, and ethical human microbiome research. To conclude, we promote a programmatic list for putting co-laborative ethical science into practice, benefiting global communities, individuals, and researchers alike and decolonizing and improving health worldwide.