Microba is aiming big by looking into some of the smallest things in the human body.
The Brisbane-based company provides world-leading metagenomic sequencing technology that enables customers to explore the bacteria in their gut and how it may be impacting their health.
And with one in five Australians having some sort of digestive or gut problem, it’s clear there’s a need for their work.
Co-founders Professor Gene Tyson and Professor Philip Hugenholtz built Microba’s gut microbiome analysis capabilities from research they began at The University of Queensland.
“Out of this research Microba was born and our first product - a home testing kit - was launched and made available to consumers in July 2018,” Prof Tyson says.
Since its launch in 2017, the team has been working with healthcare practitioners to assist their patients and provide data analysis to research clients. Leveraging this continually growing database is allowing them to discover new bacteria, and links with disease states, for use in therapeutic products that can make an impact globally.
“Customers have the option to contribute to global research by opting-in to the Future Insights research program,” Prof Hugenholtz says.
Using this de-identified data, Microba is building the world’s largest database of metagenomic gut microbiome samples and associated health and lifestyle data.
As the database grows, the team uses machine learning and other approaches to identify increasing numbers of significant associations between specific microorganisms and genes, which can accurately predict different disease states.
“This data-driven approach allows Microba to identify promising therapeutic leads and to develop non-invasive diagnostic tests, quickly progressing towards our mission of creating life-changing healthcare products,” Prof Hugenholtz says.
Backed by a network of visionary high net-worth individuals who provided the cornerstone Series A raise in early 2018, Microba was able to bring a product to market within six months.
“In the first year of operation we sold over 5000 units,” Prof Tyson says.
On the back of this first year of success, they put an ambitious growth plan in place.
They undertook another successful raise, in which support came from strategic partnerships with one of the world’s largest commercial DNA sequencing companies, Macrogen in South Korea, and three pre-eminent small cap Australian funds: Thorney, Perennial and Alium.
“We are grateful for the support of our partnerships in continuing our work,” Prof Tyson says.
With expansion on the horizon, the Microba team plans to move into a number of international markets, including the US and Asia, by 2020.
“We also want to bring our first diagnostic products to market and first therapeutics in clinical trials in the next 12 to 18 months,” Prof Tyson says.
“These are ambitious goals, but we feel they are realistic given the strong microbial signals emerging from the Microba database together with a world-leading scientific and business team to action these plans.”
Recently, Microba launched a research and development program with the Honourable Kate Jones, Queensland Minister for Innovation, Minister for Tourism Industry Development, and the Commonwealth Games in June, focusing on Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
They launched at Bio in Philadelphia, an international biotechnology convention with the aim to develop gut microbiome derived therapeutics for IBD.
“The gut microbiome holds significant promise for the identification of novel therapeutics to treat IBD,” Prof Tyson says.
“Using our advanced DNA sequencing approach, we are able to discover novel species, which we believe are playing a role in IBD. So far, Microba researchers have identified 21 bacterial species commonly found in healthy individuals but not detected in Crohn’s, and 20 in ulcerative colitis.”
Microba has now joined a group of 13 organisations and 26 researchers to develop an antimicrobial resistance (AMR) ‘knowledge’ engine that will use smart algorithms and machine learning to track, trace and predict outbreaks of AMR and inform interventions.
Funding for OUTBREAK (One-health Understanding Through Bacterial Resistance to Antibiotic Knowledge) was received through the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund for an initial one-year term.
“This collaboration allows all involved to contribute to the OUTBREAK vision of leading Australian researchers working toward saving lives,” Prof Hugenholtz says.
Prof Tyson adds: “We envisage a point in time when everyone will have a microbiome test as regularly as they have a blood test.”
Prof Hugenholtz says the company is proud to have its roots in Queensland and to be providing a product that will make an impact globally.
“I feel really proud that we’ve got a local homegrown business that has expanded from an initial six people, and now we’ve got 30 full-time employees, and I just love to see that mix of people with different expertise working together for a common cause.”
