Our research focuses on characterization of the composition and function of the human intestinal and female reproductive track microbiota with an overall aim to provide understanding on how these microbiomes contribute to health and disease, and to identify environmental and life-style factors that support health-promoting microbiomes. We analyze high-throughput data and complement the association studies using reductionist approaches that focus on the identification, isolation and characterization of specific health-promoting anaerobes using genomic and physiological tools.