When you are collecting your sample, you may notice there is a liquid already present in the test tube. This liquid is a buffer that stabilizes your sample. Thanks to this buffer, the quality of your sample is maintained through shipping conditions and can be processed up to ninety days after collection. After you collect your sample, a package carrier will deliver it to our lab, located in Maryland, to be processed.

Once your sample arrives at our lab, it will undergo deep shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Deep shotgun metagenomics is a powerful technique used to study the entire genomic content of microbial communities present in your sample. Let's break down what this technique means.

"Shotgun metagenomics" refers to a sequencing technique that provides unbiased coverage of all of the organisms living in your microbiome. Other types of sequencing, like 16S, using unique codes called "primers" to target specific sections of DNA. By using these primers, results are limited to organisms that can be picked up by the particular primers being used. By using shotgun metagenomics, a primer-free technique, we capture all of the DNA present in the sample, even those that are not yet well characterized or known to science.

"Deep" shotgun metagenomics refers to obtaining a large number of sequencing reads. This means more DNA sequences are being read, increasing the coverage of the technique, and allowing the detection of even rare microbiomes present in the sample. Using deep sequencing gives are more accurate and detailed picture of the microbiome. This process can take anywhere from two to three weeks.

Once sequencing has been completed, and we have assured that the results meet our high quality standards, we begin generating your report using our proprietary AI. The first step is comparing your microbiome results to thousands of publications on the microbiome. Our AI reads through the latest literature, looking for signatures in your microbiome that may suggest an association with a wide variety of symptoms and conditions. Once our AI has screened your microbiome for associations to symptoms and conditions, the next step is to generate recommendations to decrease your associations. Our AI ingests thousands of articles on different dietary and lifestyle interventions and how they change your microbiome. Using our "digital twin" technology, we build a virtual copy of your microbiome and simulate how it would change under different lifestyle or dietary actions. If our AI finds that a particular action will decrease your association to a particular symptom or condition, we recommend that action for that symptom or condition. Following these steps, a comprehensive report it generated displaying to you all of the key information from the literature that is relevant to your particular microbiome composition.