Poop pills are used for fecal transplants
It could be because we have a 12-year-old boy in the house or maybe it’s because we’ve been told that our gut may be our true brain. But over on Green Prophet we’ve been following the development of fecal transplants for the last decade. So we love it when news develops in his space: Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and collaborators have developed a breakthrough technology that can track beneficial bacteria after fecal microbiota transplants (FMT). Basically, they can figure out whose donor “poo” works the best in transplants. (And yes, you can donate your stool samples and get paid!)
The tool — a mix of long-read DNA sequencing and computational wizardry called LongTrack — reveals which donor microbes take root, how they evolve, and how they might hold the key to safer, more targeted microbiome therapies.
Published in Nature Microbiology (October 22), the study helps scientists follow donor bacteria for up to five years after fecal transplant — identifying which strains thrive, which mutate, and which might be responsible for lasting recovery in patients treated for infections like C. difficile or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
“Our findings bring us closer to precision medicine for the microbiome,” said Professor Gang Fang, senior author of the study.
Why we need fecal transplants
Seres Therapeutics Inc. plans to start selling its first FDA-approved product, a drug called Vowst made of bacterial spores derived from donated feces, this summer at $17,500 a course.
Antibiotics, processed diets, and chronic stress have left many people’s internal ecosystems stripped of the microbes that keep digestion, immunity, and even mood in balance. Fecal microbiota transplants — the medical term for taking stool from a healthy person and putting it into a sick one — sound gross, but they’ve already saved lives by restoring gut flora after antibiotic-resistant infections.
Still, until now, no one really knew which microbes made the magic happen or how to ensure consistency from donor to donor. That uncertainty — plus the “ick factor” — has limited the acceptance of FMTs beyond clinical settings.
Thanks to studies like Mount Sinai’s, the future of gut therapy could look less like brown smoothies and more like engineered microbiome capsules. Instead of whole stool donations, researchers are isolating and then culturing the exact bacterial strains that heal. They can grow an entire medicine from one person’s poop. Should we call the union? Or should donors be asking for shit tickets or royalties?
A few pioneering companies are already in the space:
Rebiotix (acquired by Ferring Pharmaceuticals) – developers of Rebyota, the first FDA-approved microbiota-based therapy to prevent recurrent C. difficile infection.
OpenBiome – a nonprofit stool bank supplying screened donor material to hospitals and researchers, helping standardize FMT safety.
Seres Therapeutics – creators of Vowst, an oral capsule that delivers healthy bacteria without the need for invasive transplants.
Together, they’re turning what was once a fringe medical experiment into a $1-billion-plus bio-innovation industry.
The ick factor: get over it
Yes, it’s poop. But it’s also the most biodiverse material your body produces — a living cluster of bacteria and enzymes that quietly maintain human health. Just as blood donations sustain trauma patients, stool donations can rebuild lives. The process is far less invasive than it sounds: donors provide a sample, labs screen for pathogens, and the material is processed into sterile therapeutic preparations.
So, could your microbiome be gold-standard and worth more than Bitcoin?
If you’re young, active, eat whole foods, and haven’t taken antibiotics recently, chances are your gut community is robust — and possibly valuable. Stool donors can receive compensation and, more importantly, contribute to the next generation of microbiome-based medicine.
With Mount Sinai’s LongTrack system showing which bacteria truly stick around — and biotech startups turning fecal matter into precision medicine — donor poop is officially having its moment.
Author: Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist, innovation strategist, and founder of Green Prophet, one of the Middle East’s pioneering sustainability platforms. She has ranked in the Top 10 of Verizon innovation competitions, participated in NASA-linked challenges, and spoken worldwide on climate, food security, and future resilience. With an IoT technology patent, features in Canada’s National Post, and leadership inside teams building next-generation agricultural and planetary systems — including Mars-farming concepts — Karin operates at the intersection of storytelling, science, and systems change. She doesn’t report on the future – she helps design it. Reach out directly to [email protected]
