Please join us for Phase II of American Gut. During Phase I we raised $339,213, making it the largest crowd funded & open source SCIENCE project in history. World’s LARGEST open-source, community driven effort to characterize the microbial diversity of the Global Gut. All US and International participants welcome (including your dog).

Join the project via Indigogo here.

We have now expanded the project and anyone in the world can join during Phase II. Help us reach 10,000 participants!

The University of Colorado and the Human Food Project have assembled a crack team of over 30 experts on the human gut microbiome in order to launch American Gut- an open-source scientific research study into the effects of diet on gut bacteria. And they need our help!

The trillions of bacteria living in and on our bodies have been found to play an integral role in our overall health and the development of disease. What is more, research strongly suggests that the state of our microbiome is largely affected by the foods we eat. The only problem is, that we don’t know exactly how.

“By combining the crowd-funding model with the open-access data analysis model that we pioneered with the Earth Microbiome Project, we can finally give anyone with an interest in his or her microbiome an opportunity to participate,” said Knight, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist.

What is American Gut?

In order to answer what might be one of the most important medical questions of our time, the American Gut Project needs samples from people like you and me. Here’s how it works: First, head over to the American Gut campaign page and make a contribution. Next, choose from one of the many PERKS. You will receive a kit in the mail, along with instructions to follow. Then, get the sample and fill out an online questionnaire. It’s as simple as that!

Once the results are in, you will receive:

• A list of the microbes identified in your personal microbiome
• Visualizations comparing your results to the general population
• Charts detailing the different kinds of microbes and what foods they were found to be associated with
• For those with multiple samples, information about how your microbiome changed over time, or compared to family members.

Click here for a list of common FAQs.