Patient initiative: Screening half a million stool donor applicants to find FMT (Fecal Microbiota Transplant) super-donors

[MaximilianKohler]

My history:

• web.archive.org/web/20220801072636/https://old.reddit.com/r/HumanMicrobiome/comments/8sv31e/my_detailed_experiences_lessons_from_8_different/
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wi52tLjCps

I've been following the microbiome research, doing FMTs, and trying to find a highly effective donor for the past decade. I created HumanMicrobiome.info (see CFS section) to try to help other people get up to date on what I feel is the obvious crux of the issue. I tried to go through official channels for years to push for FMT clinical trials with high quality donors, but when that failed I took things into my own hands and started up HumanMicrobes.org.

I struggled for a while, then a video went viral on social media resulting in tens of thousands of stool donor applicants. After ~23,000 we tried the #1 ranked donor. Results were mediocre but many people improved. A while later we activated another donor, but still results haven't been spectacular.

Last year I raised prices & donor-payouts significantly. That seemed to be the necessary catalyst, and resulted in lots of viral videos and 500k+ stool donor applicants.

I've been surprised at how rare my ideal stool donor criteria are. I still haven't found an ideal donor, but I'm still working through all the applicants.

I would welcome collaboration from other research groups to assess our donors to try to figure out how to identify highly effective donors (IE: super-donors). Otherwise, it's up to us patients to continue to experiment and try to figure things out on our own.

Also, I'm spending a ton of time screening "average" people. My efforts to recruit the types of people I think are most likely to qualify - top athletes - haven't been very successful. So I would welcome assistance in that regard.

 

[Steve]

I don’t know what your criteria are but, having some acquaintance with Navy SEALS, suspect that they are among the most fit and sharpest humans. I have no idea how to recruit them, though.

 

[MaximilianKohler]

I don’t know what your criteria are but, having some acquaintance with Navy SEALS, suspect that they are among the most fit and sharpest humans. I have no idea how to recruit them, though.

The basic criteria are on the Donors page, and this blog goes into more detail on hypothesized ideal stool donor criteria.

Regarding recruiting, one might just inform them of the website and note that if they qualify they could be making $180,000/yr for minimal work. There are also some flyers here that could be used in person or on social media: https://www.humanmicrobes.org/flyers

 

[MaximilianKohler]

The FDA sent me a warning letter:

Is human microbes getting shut down?

Michael stated, in his most recent update, That he received a warning letter from the FDA. What does this most likely mean? Are they prohibiting him from selling more FMTs? Are they requiring some sort of protocol? I am worried for our health, I believe this was our only hope for a while.

forum.humanmicrobiome.info

 

[MaximilianKohler]

I just posted two new blogs in response to the FDA warning letter:

• The FDA and FMT regulation.
• High-quality stool donors are more rare than one in a million? AI, funding, and potential.

Any ideas about what could be done? Perhaps a letter-writing/petition campaign to the FDA could be organized?