Our intestinal tract contains 10 times more bacteria than we have cells in our body. These bacteria express 150 times more genes than we have in our human genome and influence several cellular processes in the gut such as blood vessel formation, immune system development and even our metabolism. We have previously shown that germ-free mice do not develop obesity and that the composition of the bacterial flora is different in obese mice and humans. This makes the gut microbiota a potential target for developing new drugs and therapies for metabolic diseases. "Next generation sequencing has become a powerful tool for mapping the composition of the gut microbiota. However, the sheer volume of data presents a major analytical challenge and even if we map the composition of the gut microbiota, animal studies are needed to understand how the gut microbiota affects our metabolism and metabolic diseases. The platform "Metagenome and its role in metabolic diseases" will bring together microbiology and systems biology in a unique translational setting and, in addition to studying whether the gut microbiota offers diagnostic or therapeutic targets for these diseases, also study the underlying mechanisms using germ-free mice. As our platform will develop new analytical methods to study the composition of the gut microbiota, it will also be an important national resource for analyzing the composition and function of the gut microbiota.