Breakthrough microbiome test opens new avenues for disease research and healthcare

At a cellular level, we are more bacterial than human. The bacterial cells in our bodies outnumber human cells by an estimated 8 trillion. Genetically, the disparity is even greater. While we have about 23,000 human genes, our microbiome carries over 2 million bacterial genes. It’s perhaps no surprise that these microorganisms play a crucial role in our health, from digestion and immune function to metabolism and mental well-being. An imbalanced microbiome has been associated with a range of neurological diseases, cardiovascular conditions, autoimmune disorders, metabolic syndromes, and cancer. Yet, despite its significance, modern medicine has yet to fully embrace microbiome science in routine healthcare.

“It’s so fundamental to our health,” says Paul Denslow, CEO of Intus Biosciences. “It’s extraordinary that the microbiome doesn’t play any meaningful role in healthcare.”

Intus Biosciences is working to change that. With its newly launched microbiome testing platform – GutID – the company is enabling individuals and clinicians to access, understand, and act on comprehensive microbiome data for the first time.

Meet GutID

GutID is the first accurate microbiome test able to identify all bacteria in the gut down to the strain level – a longstanding challenge in microbiome science. Many gut bacteria share similar genetic markers, making it difficult to distinguish between health-promoting strains and potentially harmful ones – and even closely related strains can have vastly different effects on health. For example, without knowing the strain, there is no way to know if a given strain of E.coli is toxic or harmless. A complete, accurate, and detailed view of the bacterial microbiome is therefore key. “Strains and substrains are the currency of the microbiome,” explains Mark Driscoll, co-founder and CSO of Intus Biosciences. “But until now, we’ve lacked the ability to see things clearly because there are trillions of bacteria, making it difficult to build a comprehensive database from sequencing data.”

This is one of the key breakthroughs of GutID. Unlike traditional sequencing methods that rely on pre-existing bacterial reference libraries and often miss critical bacterial strains, GutID’s technology profiles the entire microbiome in a database-independent manner. This capability stems from Intus Biosciences’ Titan-1, a technology platform that integrates advanced sequencing with AI-powered data processing.

Titan-1 uses a unique amplicon design and long-read sequencing from PacBio to gather enough data to differentiate bacterial strains without sequencing entire genomes, instead generating a unique “fingerprint” – for both known and unknown strains. AI-powered software then processes this data, assembling a complete microbiome profile, identifying bacterial strains and substrains, and detecting potential health-relevant imbalances.

Another key advantage of this testing platform is its reproducibility, which addresses a common misconception in microbiome science – that testing the same sample twice yields different results. “This myth stems from the instability of existing tests,” Denslow explains. “With GutID, you can send the same sample to us 100 times and get nearly identical results. No other test or technology can do that.”

Actionable, personalized microbiome data

The output of GutID is a detailed report that turns the raw data into actionable health insights, helping individuals and clinicians to identify microbiome imbalances and undertake targeted interventions – whether through diet, probiotics, or other therapeutics. The report includes an executive summary with key microbiome health metrics, flagged areas of concern, pathogen profiles, and personalized food, supplement, and lifestyle recommendations tailored to the user’s microbiome.

The ability to see their exact microbiome composition offers a powerful tool both for individuals looking to understand their microbiome health and for those struggling with chronic gut issues, metabolic diseases, allergies, or even mood disorders.

“One of the most important aspects of Gut ID is its ability to show the entire microbiome,” Denslow explains. “For conditions like IBS and IBD, this is vital. We know from the literature and our own work helping patients that these symptoms are often associated with imbalances in the microbiome – and to see an imbalance, you have to get the whole picture.”

“We have a lot of patients using the test who have tested negative for everything that the doctors can provide, and they often get told it's stress or it's psychosomatic,” Denslow continues. “With GutID, you can suddenly see if something is wrong and then you have something you can address. You can then track the effectiveness of interventions through follow-up tests, see if the change is working, how well it's working, and whether a different intervention is needed.”

Driscoll is quick to emphasize that a balanced microbiome is not just a theoretical idea. A healthy microbiome is typically dominated by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, two essential bacterial phyla. A disruption in this balance – such as a dominance of mycoplasma or proteobacteria – can signal pathogenicity. “It’s not just that these bacteria are present – people can carry a whole bunch of things like proteobacteria, E. coli, and hospital-acquired pathogens,” he says. “But if they make up 40% of your gut microbiome, that’s a serious issue, because healthy people don't have that. That’s what we’re talking about when we say imbalance.”

What a GutID report looks like

The GutID report provides a detailed, visual representation of an individual’s microbiome down to the strain level, showing the abundance of both commensals and pathogens. At the center is the target plot, a circular chart with multiple concentric rings. Each ring represents a deeper level of bacterial classification, ranging from broad phyla to individual strains.

In a healthy microbiome, the Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio is typically balanced around 50-50, with the outer rings showing a diverse range of bacterial species distributed evenly. This diversity is a key indicator of gut health.

In contrast, an imbalanced microbiome may show dominance of a particular bacterial strain, indicating overgrowth or dysbiosis. There may be a lack of diversity, with fewer bacterial species present, and the Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio may be skewed, which is often a marker of gut health issues. The report also includes a proprietary microbiome health score, ranking overall gut microbiome health on a scale of 0 to 100, helping users interpret their data and track improvements over time.

Where to get GutID

GutID is available for purchase at gutid.com. The test includes a simple at-home collection kit that takes five minutes to complete. Once the sample is collected, it is sent to Intus Bio’s state-of-the-art lab for analysis, with results typically available within 3-4 weeks. “Anyone can buy the test,” says Denslow. “We have clinicians who are buying the test wholesale using it as part of their patient algorithm, and then we have people who are buying it themselves directly and then using the data and the insights to improve their health and well-being.”