A term for a new academic field proposed by Scott Raymond Schaffer {c2025}, a student of academia in Health Science and Health Optimization Medicine and Practice, dedicated to the study of the human holobiont.
This field integrates the study of the human host {Homo sapiens} with all its associated microbial communities (the human microbiome) to understand the person as a single, complex, and co-evolving biological entity.
Field's Focus
Homobiontology is fundamentally an extension of the Holobiont Theory applied specifically to humans. It shifts the focus from simply studying a person, and separately studying their microbes, to viewing them as one:
Holobiont: The combined, single living entity, consisting of the human host and its
full complement of microorganisms.
Foundation:
This field is built on the reality that our microbes are not just passengers, but are essential to our health, metabolism,
immunity, and even behavior—they are a functional part of our anatomy.
Goal:
To use all modern "omics" technologies (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics) to create a complete picture
of the human-microbial system, ultimately leading to personalized medicine and a
better understanding of health and disease.
In Simple Terms:
It's the science of the
whole person, including the trillions of
microbes they host, treating the
combination as one biological system.
This field integrates the study of the human host {Homo sapiens} with all its associated microbial communities (the human microbiome) to understand the person as a single, complex, and co-evolving biological entity.
Field's Focus
Homobiontology is fundamentally an extension of the Holobiont Theory applied specifically to humans. It shifts the focus from simply studying a person, and separately studying their microbes, to viewing them as one:
Holobiont: The combined, single living entity, consisting of the human host and its
full complement of microorganisms.
Foundation:
This field is built on the reality that our microbes are not just passengers, but are essential to our health, metabolism,
immunity, and even behavior—they are a functional part of our anatomy.
Goal:
To use all modern "omics" technologies (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics) to create a complete picture
of the human-microbial system, ultimately leading to personalized medicine and a
better understanding of health and disease.
In Simple Terms:
It's the science of the
whole person, including the trillions of
microbes they host, treating the
combination as one biological system.
The practitioner that is proficient in the science Holobiontology offers their patients a complete view of their health as from a perspective that the human body as a complex structure that operates as a whole.
by Bio Theory October 20, 2025
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