Solar Genomics presents precision or customized probiotics to assist prospects deal with particular medical situations.

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Intestine well being is essential to curing many ailments, says Sunny Jain, founding father of Solar Genomics, a San Diego-based well being startup that creates customized probiotics for patrons.

Jain, a microbiologist by coaching who had labored at various testing firms together with LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics and Illumina, found his new child son had GI points in 2016. The medical doctors couldn’t prescribe him any remedy as a result of he was too younger. Somewhat than accepting the prognosis as a situation his son must cope with, Jain got down to see what may very well be performed to enhance his son’s well being. He began testing his feces. There he discovered giant numbers of unhealthy strains of micro organism.

“We might see that these stresses can result in irritation within the physique. I additionally examined my stool for comparability to see what a more healthy grownup intestine appears to be like like. After which I went down the rabbit gap to analysis completely different strains and their results,” he says.

After spending $30,000 on exams, lots of which he loaded onto his private bank card (and dealing as an Uber driver to complement his earnings), and researching the ins and outs of wholesome strains of micro organism, Jain formulated a customized probiotic for his son . Quickly after, he started to see enchancment.

Impressed by this success story, Jain got here up with the thought of ​​constructing an organization that might do one thing related for others. After testing many probiotics available on the market, he discovered that lots of them did not even include the probiotic strains as marketed on the label, and others simply did not make it into the intestine to assist. Nonetheless, he knew that the intestine microbiome was crucial to total well being.

“We’ve got seen that there’s an absolute connection between our intestine microbiome and different microbiomes in our physique, comparable to B. within the mouth, pores and skin, lungs and the connection between intestine and mind, the place micro organism one way or the other simulate neurotransmitters.”

Utilizing knowledge compiled by the Human Microbiome Challenge and the American Intestine Challenge, Solar Genomics built-in this info into its current know-how, leading to a database of greater than 100,000 genomes. You too can observe fungi, parasites and viruses along with micro organism.

When Jain started exploring this area in 2016, there have been few, if any, merchandise that supplied such a tailor-made method. After self-funding the primary yr of analysis and growth, Jain pitched his idea to buyers. He began regionally with the San Diego enterprise capital group after which moved to San Francisco to affix IndieBio, an accelerator targeted on biology-related know-how and enterprise. Not solely was he in a position to persuade buyers, however IndieBio’s managing companion, Sean O’Sullivan, had a baby with autism and was additionally on the lookout for customized options that might assist. The private connection, Jain says, actually helped him perceive what they had been attempting to resolve. He linked Jain and his colleagues to researchers at Arizona State College learning how intestine well being may impression autism. Then, in 2020, Solar Genomics began a examine with Arizona State College by which sufferers obtained a custom-made method for 3 months to see if there was an total enchancment.

Jain has now raised capital and constructed an organization that has a singular proposition within the probiotics business: what he calls “precision probiotics.” Every buyer receives a stool equipment that the corporate makes use of to map their intestine, and the outcomes of the genome exams may be seen in an app. Somewhat than guessing which probiotics may assist, he says they’re in a position to choose strains they know are more practical based mostly on analysis. Additionally they provide recommendation from their in-house scientist, Shirin Treadwell, who’s glad to speak to prospects about their well being in particular person.

Along with analysis into autism, Solar Genomics helps packages in San Diego geared toward higher understanding Crohn’s illness and colitis. “We’ve got a science-based method. We actually wish to assist folks enhance their well being, and if we will try this by supporting analysis, we’ll.”

Equally, through the pandemic, Jain has been researching how COVID impacts intestine well being. There is a outstanding connection, he says, that is why we’re seeing COVID present up in sewage and stool samples. “The virus reaches the intestine and causes intestine signs in some sufferers.”

General, Jain notes that curiosity within the human intestine microbiome has grown exponentially because the firm was based. “I’ve by no means seen a serious explode like this. Each specialist conducts a microbiome evaluation, and it’s each area of examine. Round 60,000 articles on this topic have now been printed.”

However the analysis part of the corporate is pricey. Jain tries to supply the service at an reasonably priced worth, however he concedes that it is not doable to supply rock-bottom costs as a result of testing is dear. He additionally offers up a couple of commerce secrets and techniques: Some probiotics have most of the cheaper strains in bigger portions as a result of it is cheap to enterprise, however that is not essentially higher for the intestine, he says.

Solar Genomics’ probiotics fluctuate in efficiency based mostly on a person’s particular wants. Some are as little as 1 to 2 billion CFU, significantly for youngsters, to as high as 150 billion CFU for adults in want of intestine cleaning. They use a mix of soil-based and non-soil-based strains of micro organism, which the corporate recommends prospects refrigerate upon arrival, however will even face up to room temperatures for 30 days.

Whereas some useful medication physicians in California have begun recommending Solar Genomics to their sufferers to find out the basis explanation for their dysbiosis, Jain hopes this tailor-made method will turn into extra mainstream and draw the eye of gastroenterologists, who usually deal with sufferers with IBS, IBD, Reflux and different frequent illnesses, lots of which may very well be improved with a greater examination of the intestine.

Getting a window into one’s well being has been a little bit of trial and error to see what’s lacking or what’s an excessive amount of. Nonetheless, Solar Genomics is a part of a rising group of healthcare startups with a tailor-made method that might open the door for additional analysis not simply on intestine illness however on quite a lot of ailments related to continual irritation and dysbiosis.