Symbiotic Synergies: How the Body Became a Chimera (1950-2000) . This project aims to investigate how central concepts in today’s revolutionary microbiome paradigm formed in earlier microbiology. We s

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Symbiotic Synergies: How the Body Became a Chimera (1950-2000) . This project aims to investigate how central concepts in today’s revolutionary microbiome paradigm formed in earlier microbiology. We seek to study how the microbes inhabiting us came to be seen as symbiotic, and how certain concepts of symbiosis led to a new view of human bodies as multi-species chimeras. The project aims to generate historical and philosophical knowledge that can inform the metamorphoses biomedicine is now undergoing in the light of discoveries showing that health and disease depend on our microbes. Expected outcomes are novel interdisciplinary insights into the conceptual transformations that led to microbiome science. Benefits include a public-facing combination of scientific, historical and philosophical knowledge.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5002 - History and Philosophy of Specific Fields. Lead: A/Prof Maureen O'Malley