Frequently Asked Questions
If you've read the About Our Study section and still have a question about our study, maybe it's answered here! If not, send us an email. We'll try to get back to you within a day or two, although we may not be working on weekends. If it's a general question that others might have, we'll add it to this list.
I'm not adding a live email link to cut down on spam, but the email address is:
dynamics (dot) human (dot) microbiota (at) gmail (dot) com
I'm not adding a live email link to cut down on spam, but the email address is:
dynamics (dot) human (dot) microbiota (at) gmail (dot) com
You mention various study options like different perturbations of the gut microbiota (diet supplements, antibiotics, colon cleanout), and the possibility of a somewhat shorter sampling interval. Do participants get to chose their options?
Yes, participants get to chose which arm of the study they sign up for. Basically, the options are sampling over about 35 weeks with two perturbations, sampling over about 25 weeks with one perturbation, or sampling over about 35 weeks with no perturbations at all. Sampling is usually once a week, with daily sampling at times. Within the two-perturbation arm, the first perturbation is always with resistant starch as a diet supplement, and for the second perturbation participants can choose between a colon cleanout or the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. In the shorter one-perturbation arm, the perturbation is always going to be the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. Once we have enough people signed up for each study arm, it will be closed to further enrollment.
Update: All study arms have been filled, recruitment is closed.
Yes, participants get to chose which arm of the study they sign up for. Basically, the options are sampling over about 35 weeks with two perturbations, sampling over about 25 weeks with one perturbation, or sampling over about 35 weeks with no perturbations at all. Sampling is usually once a week, with daily sampling at times. Within the two-perturbation arm, the first perturbation is always with resistant starch as a diet supplement, and for the second perturbation participants can choose between a colon cleanout or the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. In the shorter one-perturbation arm, the perturbation is always going to be the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. Once we have enough people signed up for each study arm, it will be closed to further enrollment.
Update: All study arms have been filled, recruitment is closed.
Is the sampling schedule totally rigid?
No, we realize there are time when collecting microbiota samples might be inconvenient or impossible. For example, if the official schedule has you collecting a sample every Monday, but sometimes you collect a weekly sample on a Sunday or a Tuesday, that's fine. Occasionally you might entirely miss a scheduled sample (e.g., you're out of town for 2 weeks). The most critical times are when we ask you to collect daily samples before, during and after one of the deliberate perturbations, so we can track the rapid changes in the microbiota that might be occurring at that time. However, we can arrange the schedule so the perturbations happen when they're convenient for you to be taking samples daily.
No, we realize there are time when collecting microbiota samples might be inconvenient or impossible. For example, if the official schedule has you collecting a sample every Monday, but sometimes you collect a weekly sample on a Sunday or a Tuesday, that's fine. Occasionally you might entirely miss a scheduled sample (e.g., you're out of town for 2 weeks). The most critical times are when we ask you to collect daily samples before, during and after one of the deliberate perturbations, so we can track the rapid changes in the microbiota that might be occurring at that time. However, we can arrange the schedule so the perturbations happen when they're convenient for you to be taking samples daily.
What's the amount of monetary compensation?
For participants in the no perturbation study arm, the compensation is $200, and for the single antibiotic perturbation study arm it's $300, both paid at the end of the scheduled sampling. For participants in the two perturbation study arm, the compensation for the diet supplementation and the colon cleanout perturbations (along with the associated sampling) is $200, and for the antibiotic perturbation (along with associated sampling) it's $300. That means if you do two perturbations you'll be paid either $400 or $500, paid in two chunks halfway through and at the end of the scheduled sampling.
For participants in the no perturbation study arm, the compensation is $200, and for the single antibiotic perturbation study arm it's $300, both paid at the end of the scheduled sampling. For participants in the two perturbation study arm, the compensation for the diet supplementation and the colon cleanout perturbations (along with the associated sampling) is $200, and for the antibiotic perturbation (along with associated sampling) it's $300. That means if you do two perturbations you'll be paid either $400 or $500, paid in two chunks halfway through and at the end of the scheduled sampling.
Can I still sign up if I'm planning a trip during the sampling interval, or if I'm going to move before the end of the study?
Yes, maybe. If you're traveling in the US, or internationally to developed parts of the world for as long as a couple weeks - and this happens once or twice in the sampling interval, it's certainly ok. However, we might need to readjust your schedule so the travel doesn't fall during or just before/after the intervals of daily sampling that surround perturbations. You'll wind up missing some scheduled sampling dates, and to compensate we might ask for some additional samples (e.g. just before you leave and just after you get back). Longer trips or more frequent trips might also be accommodated, but we may want to see if it's possible to have you collect at least some samples during the trip(s) and overnight them back to us in the lab (the same procedure as for getting samples back to the lab when you're at home). That's only going to be possible for travel in the U.S., though...international dry ice shipments are really difficult and expensive! If you're interested in joining the study, but concerned about travel, let us know your plans and we'll see what we can work out. We don't want to have too many gaps in the series of samples, because it defeats the purpose of tracking changes in the microbiota over time...but especially if you're not beyond the range of UPS or FedEx, we can probably work it out.
Yes, maybe. If you're traveling in the US, or internationally to developed parts of the world for as long as a couple weeks - and this happens once or twice in the sampling interval, it's certainly ok. However, we might need to readjust your schedule so the travel doesn't fall during or just before/after the intervals of daily sampling that surround perturbations. You'll wind up missing some scheduled sampling dates, and to compensate we might ask for some additional samples (e.g. just before you leave and just after you get back). Longer trips or more frequent trips might also be accommodated, but we may want to see if it's possible to have you collect at least some samples during the trip(s) and overnight them back to us in the lab (the same procedure as for getting samples back to the lab when you're at home). That's only going to be possible for travel in the U.S., though...international dry ice shipments are really difficult and expensive! If you're interested in joining the study, but concerned about travel, let us know your plans and we'll see what we can work out. We don't want to have too many gaps in the series of samples, because it defeats the purpose of tracking changes in the microbiota over time...but especially if you're not beyond the range of UPS or FedEx, we can probably work it out.
Can I sign up for the study no matter where I live?
Within the U.S., pretty much yes. Unfortunately, we can't sign people up who live outside the U.S.
If you're somewhere near Stanford, we may be able to meet up in person. If not, we can give you all the information about the study online or by email; do the informed consent interview by Skype, Google Hangouts, or phone; mail you the sampling materials; and (this is the tricky bit) overnight ship you a small cooler with dry ice when it's time to return samples to us, you put the samples in, and overnight it back to us. The two reasons we can't recruit participants outside the U.S. are the more restrictive international regulations for dry ice shipments, and the lack of IRB permission to do so. (The IRB is part of the regulation of scientific research involving humans.) We're looking into the possibility of being able to expand our recruiting into Canada, but that's not happening yet (and might not ever).
If you're one of the few people living somewhere in the U.S. that doesn't have reliable overnight UPS or FedEx service, that's going to be an issue...send us an email and we'll see if we can work something out.
Within the U.S., pretty much yes. Unfortunately, we can't sign people up who live outside the U.S.
If you're somewhere near Stanford, we may be able to meet up in person. If not, we can give you all the information about the study online or by email; do the informed consent interview by Skype, Google Hangouts, or phone; mail you the sampling materials; and (this is the tricky bit) overnight ship you a small cooler with dry ice when it's time to return samples to us, you put the samples in, and overnight it back to us. The two reasons we can't recruit participants outside the U.S. are the more restrictive international regulations for dry ice shipments, and the lack of IRB permission to do so. (The IRB is part of the regulation of scientific research involving humans.) We're looking into the possibility of being able to expand our recruiting into Canada, but that's not happening yet (and might not ever).
If you're one of the few people living somewhere in the U.S. that doesn't have reliable overnight UPS or FedEx service, that's going to be an issue...send us an email and we'll see if we can work something out.