Super poo: the emerging science of stool transplants and designer gut bacteria

The collective genetic material in the microbiome performs myriad functions that affect our mood, our immunity, and our physical and mental health.

Restoring them to health has become a very serious scientific endeavour, as the diversity of our gut bacteria is linked to everything from depression to how we respond to cancer treatment.

But as scientific understanding of the microbiome improves, the possibilities of faecal transplants are expanding.

Those who make it through all the assessments are enrolled for an eight-week program where they have to turn up on time, fill out a questionnaire, then (ahem) make a deposit inside a special room.

People are building libraries of the very best that poo has to offer, and BiomeBank is part of the effort to categorise premium stool strains.

Costello, a gastroenterologist, says that humans historically had much more diverse microbiota. We lived more closely with other people and with animals, and we ate more unprocessed food.

Patients can take it orally to treat specific infections. This generation has already been rolled out in hospitals, and, if approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, it will be the first microbial therapy in the world approved as a biologic (it currently has provisional approval).