The Journal of Precision Microbiome Therapeutics (JPMT) is an international, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to advancing the discovery, development, engineering, personalization, and clinical translation of microbiome-based therapeutics.

JPMT brings together microbiome science and therapeutic development across the continuum from biological mechanism and target identification to intervention design, precision stratification, preclinical validation, clinical evaluation, and patient outcomes.

The journal is founded on the premise that the next generation of microbiome medicine will require more than descriptive characterization of microbial communities. Understanding causal mechanisms, functional interactions, therapeutic targets, host responses, treatment heterogeneity, and clinically actionable biomarkers is essential for translating microbiome discoveries into safe, effective, and reproducible interventions.

JPMT therefore provides a multidisciplinary forum for research connecting microbiology, microbial ecology, molecular biology, immunology, pharmacology, drug development, synthetic biology, biotechnology, systems biology, computational science, artificial intelligence, and clinical medicine.

The journal particularly welcomes studies that move beyond association toward mechanistic insight, therapeutic development, precision medicine, and clinical translation.

JPMT is committed to rigorous peer review, research integrity, transparent reporting, methodological robustness, reproducibility, responsible use of artificial intelligence, and editorial independence.

Scientific Areas

1. Microbiome Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets

JPMT welcomes mechanistic studies addressing:

• host–microbiome interactions;
• microbe–microbe interactions;
• microbial metabolites and signalling molecules;
• microbial functional pathways;
• host metabolic and immune responses;
• causal relationships between microbiome perturbations and disease;
• microbial and host therapeutic targets;
• gnotobiotic and defined-community models;
• functional characterization of microbiome-associated phenotypes.

Purely descriptive microbiome profiling is generally considered insufficient for publication unless it provides a clear and substantive advance in biological mechanism, therapeutic development, biomarker development, or clinical translation.

2. Live Biotherapeutics and Microbiome Interventions

Relevant topics include:

• live biotherapeutic products;
• next-generation probiotics;
• engineered probiotics;
• defined microbial consortia;
• synthetic microbial communities;
• microbiota transplantation and microbiome restoration;
• postbiotics and microbiome-derived therapeutics;
• bacteriophages and phage-based microbiome modulation;
• microbial metabolites and therapeutic molecules;
• dietary or nutritional interventions where there is a clearly defined therapeutic rationale;
• strategies for targeted microbiome modulation.

3. Pharmacomicrobiomics and Drug–Microbiome Interactions

JPMT particularly welcomes research addressing the bidirectional relationship between therapeutics and the microbiome, including:

• microbial metabolism of drugs;
• drug-induced microbiome alterations;
• microbiome-mediated drug efficacy;
• microbiome-mediated toxicity;
• pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions;
• treatment response heterogeneity;
• microbial enzymes affecting drug metabolism;
• pharmacomicrobiomic biomarkers;
• computational prediction of drug–microbiome interactions;
• strategies for incorporating microbiome information into drug development.

4. Microbiome Engineering and Synthetic Biology

Research areas include:

• engineered microorganisms;
• programmable microbial systems;
• synthetic microbial communities;
• genetic circuits;
• microbial biosensors;
• engineered therapeutic strains;
• targeted microbial editing;
• CRISPR-based microbiome manipulation;
• microbial production of therapeutic molecules;
• containment and safety of engineered microbial therapeutics;
• synthetic biology approaches to precision microbiome intervention.

5. Precision Microbiome Medicine and Biomarkers

JPMT considers studies involving:

• patient stratification;
• microbiome-based biomarkers;
• predictors of treatment response;
• treatment-resistance signatures;
• companion diagnostics;
• personalized microbiome interventions;
• microbiome-informed therapeutic selection;
• microbiome-based risk prediction;
• longitudinal patient profiling;
• precision nutrition where directly connected to therapeutic objectives.

6. Microbiome, Immunity, and Cancer Therapeutics

Relevant studies include:

• microbiome regulation of immune responses;
• microbiome–immunotherapy interactions;
• cancer immunotherapy;
• microbial determinants of treatment response;
• immune checkpoint therapy and the microbiome;
• inflammatory diseases;
• autoimmune disorders;
• microbial metabolites and immune signalling;
• mechanisms linking microbiome composition or function with therapeutic efficacy and toxicity.

7. AI, Multi-omics, and Computational Microbiome Therapeutics

JPMT welcomes computational and artificial-intelligence research when it contributes directly to microbiome science or therapeutic development.

Areas include:

• machine learning and deep learning;
• microbiome phenotyping;
• metagenomics;
• metatranscriptomics;
• metabolomics;
• proteomics;
• multi-omics integration;
• metabolic modelling;
• microbial interaction modelling;
• therapeutic response prediction;
• patient-specific therapeutic design;
• computational drug–microbiome interaction prediction;
• AI-assisted therapeutic discovery;
• digital representations of microbiome systems.

AI is considered an enabling methodology rather than an independent subject area. Studies must demonstrate scientific validity, appropriate validation, biological or clinical relevance, and sufficient methodological transparency.

8. Clinical Translation, Trials, and Regulatory Science

JPMT welcomes research addressing the translation of microbiome science into clinical practice, including:

• clinical trials;
• early-phase and late-phase evaluation of microbiome therapeutics;
• clinical microbiome interventions;
• live biotherapeutic products;
• microbiome-based diagnostics;
• safety and tolerability;
• efficacy and effectiveness;
• real-world evidence;
• implementation science;
• regulatory science;
• manufacturing and quality considerations;
• clinical trial design;
• microbiome therapeutic standardization;
• patient-reported and clinically meaningful outcomes.

What JPMT Does Not Primarily Cover

JPMT is not intended to function as a general microbiology, general microbiome, nutrition, gastroenterology, infectious disease, environmental microbiome, probiotics-only, or general artificial-intelligence journal.

Manuscripts are unlikely to be considered when their principal contribution is limited to descriptive microbial profiling without a meaningful mechanistic, therapeutic, methodological, biomarker, or translational advance.

Studies involving food, agriculture, environmental microbiomes, or nutrition may be considered only when they have a clear and substantive connection to human therapeutics, precision medicine, or clinically relevant microbiome modulation.

Similarly, manuscripts using artificial intelligence merely as a generic analytical tool, without a substantive contribution to microbiome biology or therapeutic development, are outside the journal's primary scope.

Scientific Continuum

JPMT encourages research that connects one or more stages of the following translational continuum:

Microbiome biology
↓
Mechanism and causality
↓
Therapeutic target
↓
Intervention or engineering
↓
Precision stratification
↓
Preclinical validation
↓
Clinical translation
↓
Patient outcome

Not every manuscript is expected to address the entire continuum. However, submissions should demonstrate a clear contribution to one or more scientifically meaningful stages of this framework.

Article Types

During its launch phase, JPMT will primarily consider:

• Original Research Articles
• Review Articles
• Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses
• Methods and Protocol Articles
• Short Communications
• Perspectives
• Editorials

Additional article categories, including Registered Reports, Data Notes, Consensus Statements, Clinical Trial Reports, and Translational Briefs, may be introduced as the journal develops.

Reviews and Perspectives

JPMT seeks reviews that provide critical synthesis rather than broad descriptive summaries.

Priority will be given to reviews addressing:

• emerging microbiome therapeutic platforms;
• mechanisms and causal biology;
• pharmacomicrobiomics;
• microbiome engineering;
• clinical translation;
• regulatory challenges;
• precision microbiome medicine;
• AI and multi-omics for therapeutic development;
• unresolved therapeutic barriers and future directions.

Narrative reviews that simply summarize an established literature without a clear conceptual, mechanistic, methodological, or translational contribution may not be considered.

International Scope

JPMT is an international journal and welcomes submissions from researchers and institutions worldwide. Editorial and peer-review decisions are based on scientific quality, methodological rigor, originality, relevance to the journal's scope, and research integrity rather than the geographic origin, nationality, institutional affiliation, or other non-scientific characteristics of authors.

Editorial Principles

JPMT follows the principles of editorial independence, rigorous peer review, research integrity, transparent reporting, responsible data sharing, reproducibility, and fair treatment of authors and reviewers.

The journal's editorial decisions are independent of commercial considerations. Publication is not guaranteed by invitation, editorial-board membership, institutional affiliation, funding status, or previous interaction with the journal.