Ubiome, a firm that is developing a technology to sequence human bacterial DNA, has turned to crowdfunding to raise the money it needs to sequence the human microbiome, MedCity News reports.
The company is asking individuals to contribute to its project on IndieGoGo. Their goal is to raise $95,000, the article says.
"It's 23andMe for the human microbiome," says Jessica Richman, a member of Ubiome's management team.
That's because those who contribute will have the opportunity to get their bugs tested before Ubiome hits the mainstream market. They will receive a swab-kit for five sites which each have a specific balance of flora: nose, ear, mouth, gastrointestinal tract, and genitalia, the article says.
The team will then sequence and analyze the samples. In time, the data will be used to make predictions about health, according to MedCity News.