August 31, 2020

#95: How to Upgrade Your Microbiome

1 hour 25 minutes

In Episode 95, Quinn & Brian ask: how can we upgrade our microbiome (also, what’s a microbiome (also, why does it need upgrading))?

Our guest is: Raja Dhir, Co-Founder of Seed Health a microbiome company pioneering the application of bacteria for both human and planetary health. He leverages years of expertise translating scientific research for product development to lead Seed’s R&D, academic collaborations, technology development, clinical trial design, supply chain, and intellectual property strategy.

So, what is a microbiome? Overly simply put, it’s the 38,000,000,000,000 little guys in and on your body that help you do stuff; the bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses that work symbiotically and allow us to function. Interest in the field grew rapidly around 2015, but Raja thought the rate of innovation and commercial response was lacking, not to mention the science behind many of the products that were being created. So Seed leveraged the “foundry model” to support many startups in the field, driving innovations in everything from immunology to hygiene to cancer treatments while performing trials that were scientifically sound and blind as hell. They’re trying to learn all they can about the superorganism that is a human being and then make it better so that we can both live better lives and stop creating so many things that harm the planet.

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