What are we asking people to do?
Longer answer: Our goal is to have at least 100 healthy adults complete our sampling protocol, which involves self-collection of stool and urine samples once a week for about 35 weeks, plus daily sampling during several of the weeks. Twice during the study, participants will deliberately perturb their gut microbiota: during week 11 by supplementing their diet with resistant starch for 5 days, and during week 22 by either taking the antibiotic ciprofloxacin for 5 days or by doing a colonic cleansing (like what happens before people get a colonoscopy). [Update as of spring 2015: we have signed up enough people for the colon cleanout study arm, now we are only recruiting people for the antibiotic study arm.] Daily sampling will happen for the weeks before, during and after the perturbations, and during two or three other weeks for comparison. Participants will fill out questionnaires that cover their diet, health, and other aspects of their history and lifestyle that are likely to influence their microbiota. There are some variations on this basic structure; a smaller number of people will be involved in a 25 week protocol with a single antibiotic perturbation, and some people will be asked to provide blood samples and/or participate in physiological or genetic testing (these are optional).
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