Shoreline Biome is developing kits, methods, and software as part of a comprehensive high resolution amplicon microbiome profiling system that revolutionizes ease of use while solving several problems with current 16S rRNA gene microbiome protocols. The entire 2000bp rRNA+ITS gene space is targeted, permitting veteran researchers to compare directly to previous assays encompassing any portion of the 16S gene while gaining new insights from higher resolution datasets. New entrants into the microbiome space can access a proven off- the-shelf high-resolution assay without having to decide on assay designs with more limited coverage. Inclusion of the ITS region opens added diversity that can more easily differentiate strains with similar or identical 16S regions. Shoreline Biome?s partnership with the Roche Sequencing Unit, a leading Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) hardware developer, enables multiplexing of 96 samples on a novel long read, high throughput NGS platform, a combination of throughput and resolution previously unavailable. Researchers beginning or expanding their microbiome research will be able to use Shoreline Biome Software Analysis Tools to profile and compare up to 96 separate fecal microbiomes in a single sequencing run. The system will be tested in partnership with the Weinstock Laboratory at the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine on their Multiple Sclerosis (MS) mouse microbiome samples, and on gut microbiome MS samples from the Hafler Lab at Yale. Following microbiome effects on well-defined MS neurological pathways can serve as a template for studying how changes to the microbiome influence other neurological disorders, including those that may be less well understood associated with the gut-brain axis.
The microbes in the human microbiome have co-evolved with humans and are being shown to play key roles in almost all areas of human health and disease. Increasingly, researchers in all disciplines want to explore effects of the microbiome in their area of research, opening new avenues of inquiry that present huge opportunities for discovery. However, new investigators immediately encounter significant obstacles to launching their exploration of the microbiome, obstacles that the products in this proposal are designed to address by enabling a rapid, high resolution view of the microbiome easily accessible to new entrants in the field.
