Scientists have made progress in understanding the value of the gut microbiome for health, but research has been constrained by the lack of well-characterised 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. The IAFNS Nutrition for Gut Health Committee partially supported the NIST project.

According to a NIST statement, “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 study 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, “RM 8048 Human Fecal 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 harmonisation led NIST to begin work on another reference material, “RGTM 10212 Fecal Metabolite Mixture.” 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 characterisation 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.