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News — Washington D.C. – Scientists have made progress in understanding the value of gut microbiome for health but research has been constrained by the lack of well-characterized samples for different labs to compare.

To help solve this problem, IAFNS has supported the development of a gut microbiome reference material by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Now, NIST has released this reference material, with the aim of advancing human health and disease research. IAFNS partially supported the NIST project.

According to a NIST , “The initiative aims to speed progress in a cutting-edge field of medical research targeting some of humanity’s most serious and intractable diseases,” including hepatitis, cancer, colitis and other illnesses.

In a new on the development of the stool samples, different laboratories used various analyses to identify the metabolites present in human stool samples from vegetarians and omnivores. This collaborative venture defined chemical fingerprints for each cohort.

This study demonstrates NIST’s leadership in joining the gut microbiome and metabolomics communities to improve data reproducibility and comparability.

The study informed the development of two microbiome stool sample reference materials, now available from NIST in eight 100-milligram tubes — four from a vegetarian cohort and four from omnivores. The reference material, “,” is aimed at improving data reproducibility in gut microbiome research. Measurements will include metagenomics sequences with relative abundances and highly confident metabolite annotations.

In addition, the need for instrument harmonization led NIST to begin work on another reference material, “.” This material, which is still under development at NIST, is intended for use in validating lab instrument performance.

According to the authors, “Community engagement is essential for the evaluation and characterization of common materials” in this area of research. The research effort focused special attention on those compounds and organisms thought to be most relevant to human health and new medical treatments.

On April 29 from 12:00-1:00 pm ET, IAFNS will be hosting NIST to share information on the reference material development process and explain its transformative potential for gut microbiome science. All are welcome to join the webinar: . 

The paper is available .

More information about the Reference Material is available

The Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS) is committed to leading positive change across the food and beverage ecosystem. This paper was supported by IAFNS . IAFNS is a 501(c)(3) science-focused nonprofit uniquely positioned to mobilize government, industry and academia to drive, fund and lead actionable research.