Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

drama_bomb t1_j5frh6p wrote

I wonder will this ultimately lead to more profiling? If some bacteria are leading indicators for cancer or obesity, would knowing who has the bacteria lead to social consequences?

24

ShiraCheshire t1_j5gnui1 wrote

I hope it leads to better treatment for these conditions. We could simply collect healthy bacteria and give it to unhealthy people. While it wouldn't be a cure all, it could still be a life changer for people who have unhealthy gut biomes.

19

weird_elf t1_j5gp3a4 wrote

That's called a stool transplant and it has already been done. Lots of paperwork though and very hard to access, given that the active ingredient is, well, poop.

16

ShiraCheshire t1_j5gykgh wrote

Yeah. With more understanding of how it works I’d hope that we could come up with something easier and better than the current process though. Like how different modern insulin is from the very first treatments involving it.

3