Microbial-based and microorganism-targeting therapies are emerging to prevent or treat preterm infant complications, but more preclinical research and clinical evidence is needed.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (grant number 221745/Z/20/Z), a Newcastle University Academic career Track (NUAcT) Fellowship and the 2021 Lister Institute Prize Fellow Award, awarded to C.J.S. E.W.’s PhD studentship is funded by the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine and NEC-UK.
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J.A.C., J.E.B. and C.J.S. are co-inventors on a patent relating to probiotics and postbiotics (GB2304447.2A). J.E.B. reports grants to their institutions from Prolacta Biosciences US and Danone Early Life Nutrition. C.J.S. declares lecture honoraria from Nestlé Nutrition Institute. All other authors declare no competing interests.
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Nature Microbiology thanks Eugene Dempsey and Henrik Roager for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Wroot, E., Chapman, J.A., Young, G.R. et al. Opportunities for microbiome-based therapeutics in preterm infants. Nat Microbiol 10, 1263–1266 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-025-02010-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-025-02010-x
