What is the Microbiome?
Microorganisms or microbes are tiny organisms that can only be seen through a microscope. Microbes include bacteria and fungi.
The microbiome refers to all the microbes that live in and on our bodies. Most of the microbiome is inside our gut, which is why we are collecting stool samples. Everyone’s gut microbiome is different because of what they eat, where they live, and their health and genetics.
The microbiome is important for nutrition and immunity. It can also affect the brain and behavior.
You can watch this short (less than 8 minutes) video to learn more about the microbiome:
We will use your child's stool sample to learn how the microbiome, environment, and life experiences affect health.
If you agree to participate, you will receive a kit in the mail with instructions and everything you need to collect the sample. The kit will include a prepaid mailer to send the sample to our lab. The video below shows the stool collection process. If your child is still in diapers, you will collect the stool sample from the diaper.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
No, the results of microbiome research will not be reported to you.
Some microbes are good for us and some are not. It’s best to have a diverse microbiome filled with good bacteria to promote human development, immunity, and nutrition. An unhealthy gut can have negative effects.
Most of our microbiome comes from other people and from the environment where we live. It also comes from the food we eat.
Changing what you eat and how you live (exercise habits, stress, etc.) can impact the microbiome and promote good bacteria.
Your child’s samples and data may be kept indefinitely. However, you will always have the right to ask us to destroy your child’s samples and data.
We would also like to keep your child’s saliva and stool sample for future studies. Because studies about DNA and microbiome are still developing, we don’t yet know about everything we can learn from the microbiome.
We will safely store the saliva and stool samples for future research related to this study. NIH supports other studies called “genome-wide association studies”. If we participate in such studies, we would remove all identifying information from your samples so that nobody could ever know that they were yours or your child’s.