便便也可以做 DNA 检测了，肠道健康初创公司 uBiome 获2200万美元B轮融资

小白老师说：现在市面上提供 DNA 检测服务的公司不在少数，但美国肠道健康初创企业 uBiome 检测粪便中微生物的 DNA 尚属首例。今天的医学新闻，我们先读中文版，再读英文版。

近日，uBiome 获得2200万 B 轮融资，8VC领投，Slow Ventures 、斯坦福 StartX Fund 和其他天使投资者参投。

公司计划利用该轮融资推进其检测技术发展，建设其刚刚获得美国病理学家协会 (CAP) 认可的临床实验室，以及帮助团队增长。

uBiome 是2012年 Y Combinator 的孵化项目，四年来一直稳速增长。作为世界领先的微生物基因组学研究公司，uBiome 利用 DNA 测序来识别人体内的微生物。为更深入地了解人体内的微生物，公司数据库现拥有接近10万例肠道样本，而4年前仅有2500例。

但是为什么要测定身体“另一端”排泄物的基因序列呢？人体消化道充斥着细菌，而这些微生物和健康状况密切相关。研究表明，某些有害细菌可能会引发糖尿病、多发性硬化、癌症、肝脏疾病、肥胖、肠易激综合症和其他一些疾病。事实上，利用肠道微生物也可以治愈某些疾病，像是"粪菌移植"(Fecal microbiota transplantation，FMT，其定义是，将健康人粪便中的功能菌群，移植到患者胃肠道内，重建新的肠道菌群，实现肠道及肠道外疾病的治疗)治疗梭状芽胞杆菌引起的致命腹泻的成功率为90%。

uBiome 目前推出一项临床筛选检测，名为 SmartGut™ 。作为世界上首个基于基因测序的临床微生物检测，SmartGut™ 使用先进的、下一代高通量 DNA 测序技术，标识出肠道内可能致病的特定的病原体和其他微生物，此外还能测量细菌多样性和其他有用的指标。SmartGut™ 是一个全面的筛选测试，有着目前市面上最为全面的肠道微生物种属。

目前尚不清楚 SmartGut™ 的检测成本，但网站上出售的基本套装的价格是89美元。

用户可以预订测试，自己在家收集样本，然后寄到实验室，来确定自己肠道内究竟有什么样的细菌，看看他们是否是让你身体不适的“罪魁祸首”。大约需要2分钟就能完成样本收集和邮寄准备。uBiome 已经向同行评审的期刊，提交了详细的测试方法和参数。

截至目前，公司共筹集资金 2700万美元。

There are a lot of startups looking at your DNA these days but uBiome stands out as unique among them for testing the DNA of microorganisms found in your fecal matter.

These bugs have a lot to do with your health and the startup is launching a clinical screening test called SmartGut to sequence the DNA of those microbes.

uBiome tells TechCrunch it has also closed on $22 million in Series B financing to help with the launch of its testing, for its recently College of American Pathologists (CAP) accredited clinical lab and to continue growing the team.

uBiome came out of Y Combinator in 2012 with the aim to learn more about the bugs in our bodies and has been growing at a steady clip in the four years since. A spokesperson for the company tells TechCrunch the company now has a database of close to 100,000 gut samples, up from 2,500 four years ago, thanks to the work of citizen scientists and the uBiome community.

But why sequence the stuff that comes out the other end? The GI tract is teeming with bacteria and research suggests the wrong kind may play a role in diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cancer, liver disease, obesity, irritable bowel syndrome and a number of other maladies. In fact, many published studies have shown manipulation of the gut microbiome has cured diseases such as obesity in humans. And fecal transplantation has shown a 90 percent success rate at curing a deadly type of diarrhea caused by a bacterium known as Clostridium difficile.

uBiome’s new SmartGut screening test aims to identify “dozens of microbial genera and species” using a 16S rRNA gene sequencing method. It’s unclear how much the SmartGut test will cost but a basic gut kit goes for $89 on the site.

You can order the test and collect your samples at home and then ship them to the lab to find out what kinds of bugs are milling about inside your intestines — and to see if they might be to blame for what ails you. It takes about 2 minutes to collect your sample and get it ready to send in. uBiome says it has submitted details of the testing methods and parameters to a peer-reviewed journal.

8VC led the funding round, with additional support from Slow Ventures, Stanford’s StartX Fund, and various angel investors, bringing the total now raised to $27 million.