Characterizing how the microbiome changes over time as a result of lifestyle, genetics and the environment; and understanding its precise linkage to disease, will yield exciting new methods for preventing disease and restoring health. These solutions may take many forms, from cocktails of microorganisms and phages that support a flourishing microbiome; to traditional small molecules or compounds that target pathways to augment or suppress microbiome activity; to microbiome-based diagnostics that can identify precursors to disease; to vaccines that retrain the immune system’s response to changes in the microbiome. All of these potential solutions offer the opportunity to intervene in more precise ways than is possible with traditional modalities, to impact multiple targets and address the root cause of disease.