OVERLAND PARK, KAN. — Hill’s Pet Nutrition is strengthening its partnership with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researcher Curtis Huttenhower, Ph.D., with the launch of its new One Health Microbiome Resource (OHMR). The OHMR is a comprehensive web portal that aims to advance the study of pet microbiomes and their role in maintaining pet health.
Hill’s originally announced its partnership with Huttenhower in August 2023, tapping his expertise to develop the OHMR.
The OHMR serves as a central resource for academia and pet industry, aiming to foster dialogue and provide valuable resources, like standardized protocols and computational tools, to study the microbiomes in pets, their role on pet health and impact on disease. It also offers the first centralized resource for studies on the pet gut microbiome, featuring more than 2,000 samples. According to Hill’s, the OHMR’s data, information and resources will help fuel “groundbreaking” research in pet microbiomes.
“The launch of the OHMR portal is a testament to the power of collaboration, allowing us to accelerate the pace of scientific research and to translate its findings more rapidly into benefits for both pets and their owners,” Huttenhower said. “We all love our pets, and understanding their microbiomes can provide insight into not only their health, but our own as well. Our pets’ diets and environments represent a microcosm of human nutrition, and as a result, pets’ microbiomes are a particularly powerful tool for diagnostics, preventative care, and ensuring treatment effectiveness through interactions with food and medicine.”
Building on Hill’s mission to create the largest and most comprehensive profiles of pet and human microbiomes publicly available, the pet nutrition company will continue to collaborate with Huttenhower, combining their expertise to provide new insights into the connected health of pets, their owners and the environment.
“For over a decade, Hill’s has been deeply invested in pet microbiome research, and the OHMR represents a significant step forward in our commitment to improving pet health,” said Dave Baloga, executive vice president of Science and Technology at Hill’s Pet Nutrition. “This dynamic hub provides the scientific community with unprecedented access to data, propelling groundbreaking research and driving innovation in pet nutrition. We’re already seeing the OHMR’s impact, and we’re incredibly excited about its potential to transform the lives of pets for years to come.”
Using data from the OHMR, Hill’s has already funded several studies on the pet gut microbiome. In fact, one study published in the International Society of Microbial Ecology (ISME) Journal detailed the OHMR’s collection of companion animal gut metagenomes. This research has significant implications on understanding diseases, supporting immune health and influencing specific microbial chemical activities, according to Hill’s.
Another study in the mSystems journal used information from the OHMR to understand how different dietary fiber sources can enhance canine health, fostering new product development.
“It’s all connected — our pets’ health, our health, and the world around us,” Baloga said. “The gut and skin microbiomes of pets and humans are surprisingly overlapping, and these tiny organisms play a huge role in everything from digestion and immunity to behavior and energy levels. When these microbiomes are disturbed and lose their normal ecological balance, it can lead to all sorts of problems. That’s why Hill’s is so committed to understanding how diet, disease and the environment affect the pet microbiome. This new research will give us the knowledge we need to help our pets live healthier, happier lives, and we’re excited to share these discoveries with pet owners everywhere.”
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