British Gut
British Gut, by Human Food Project, was a little different from the other projects selected. Unlike these start-ups, it was not looking for funds to start a business but support for an open collaboration between the Twins UK team at King's College London and The American Gut Project (AGP).
It claimed to be the World's largest open-source science project on the bacterial diversity of the gut.
Through FundRazr, the project has raised £21,366 (€29,752) so far with the help of 232 backers.
In this case, the backers also provided the data. For £75 (€104) contributors could find out what was in their own gut using home kits returned first class to the researchers. For £125 (€174) they could see which microbes they were sharing with a family member right up to the £210 (€292) ‘microbes for four’ package.
Human Food Project also has a campaign called American Gut, which has raised $825,042 (€772,160) so far from 5476 people.
“The British Gut project, like the American model, gives participants the opportunity to compare their personal microbiome profiles to family members, and other people both in the UK and abroad. Our project is based on the principles of 'access to all'.
“The data collected from the sample you provide will be shared anonymously both with participants and scientists, allowing many different scientific hypotheses and questions to be answered using your valuable sample.”