Would you donate your bacteria? Researchers say it could help pioneer new treatments

This article was originally posted on ABC News, on Wednesday 19 June 2024 at 11:03am. Author: Jay Bowman

Trillions of them live in and on us, but we never know they’re there.

The human body contains about 2-3 kilograms of microbial cells — things like bacteria, viruses and fungi — and they have a huge impact on our health and wellbeing.

Gut bacteria has been linked to diseases like IBS, cancer, Alzheimers, and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression.

A researcher holds up a sample of bacteria grown from a human donor.

And now, QUT’s new Australian Human Microbiome Biobank (AHMB), based at the Translational Research Institute in Brisbane, has set out to create Australia’s first catalogue of microorganisms in the human microbiome.

AHMB director, Professor Gene Tyson, said it’s hoped the collection will help pioneer new treatments for a wide range of disorders.

“We are isolating these organisms and growing them in the lab, many of them for the very first time, and building a biobank out of them,” he said.

“What that means is that when other researchers or commercial entities — or whoever wants to access those organisms and get them to work with them in the lab — the biobank will be there as a resource for them.”

The Biobank’s oxygen-free tank allows researchers to study microorganisms that live in oxygen-free environments like our digestive system.

A $3 million investment from the federal government provided the institute with the funding to build a specialised platform that allows the team to do its research.

Professor Tyson said the platform had been set up to be “completely oxygen free” because gut microbiomes “are actually anaerobic”.

“We hope that across the course of three years that we’ll collect and screen up to 100,000 different [isolated microbe samples].

“We’ll sequence the genomes of these organisms, and we’ll do that for around about 30,000 microorganisms.”

It’s hoped the collection will help pioneer new treatments for a wide range of disorders.

Helping ‘future generations’

But for that the team needs volunteers to donate samples of their bacteria.

Participants can provide stool samples for a snapshot of their gut microbiome or provide an oral, skin, or vaginal swab sample.

Pam Engelberts donated samples of her microbiome to the Australian Human Microbiome Biobank.

Pam Engelberts was one of the first people to donate samples to the biobank, with her experience with Coeliac disease inspiring her to take part in the project.

“I’m on quite a strict diet, so if there’s a way that I could help out others — if they can characterise the microbiome and maybe come up with something that helps people that have IBD — yeah, I was happy to help,” she said.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to be involved in the research, because as a patient, you usually don’t get to be heavily involved in it.

“[It] not only helps us, but future generations as well.”

A donor takes a swab of the bacteria in their mouth.

Professor Tyson said the team was after “as much diversity in our microbiome donors as possible”.

“So no matter what age, no matter what diseases you may have, no matter how healthy you are, we’re interested in getting your microbiome,” he said.

“The beauty of the microbiome is while it’s similar between all of us, everyone’s unique, and so having that unique resource of as many donors as possible allows us to go after all of these key organisms that we know are important in health and disease.”

Scientists at the Australian Human Microbiome Biobank hope to isolate samples of the microorganisms that live in and on us.