MICROBIOME HEALTH RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Description

OpenBiome is a nonprofit stool bank and microbiome research platform. We work collaboratively with clinicians, hospitals, and researchers to make fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) safe and affordable for patients suffering from recurrent C. difficile infection, the most common hospital-acquired infection in the U.S., and to explore FMT's role in treating other diseases.

Before OpenBiome, the only way for C. diff patients to access the procedure safely was by finding their own donor who could pass an expensive panel of screens and a clinician willing to prepare and deliver the stool treatment. Many patients resorted to performing the procedure themselves at home, at the risk of contracting new infections. Since sending its first treatment in Oct 2013, OpenBiome has provided more than 16,000 treatments to clinicians at over 700 medical centers in every U.S. state and in 6 countries. OpenBiome is also supporting 13 actively enrolling clinical trials to explore the potential role for gut bacteria in improving human health.