The trillions of microbes that live on and in the human body are an important part of who we are, from mediating all our interactions with the environment to determining our cancer risk and influencing who we fall for. And scientists are only beginning to decipher the types of insects we share our lives with, and how they shape us.
In the second part of a three-part Science Weekly miniseries, Madeleine Finlay meets Ina Schuppe Koistinen, associate professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and author of the book Vulva: Facts, Myths and Life-Changing Insights. Ina explains what makes the vaginal microbiome special, why it may be key to understanding pregnancy complications, and how we can better care for and protect it.
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