Development and clinical evaluation of the CapScan gastrointestinal sampling device for metabolomics monitoring

Project Abstract The goal of this project is to develop the CapScan gastrointestinal (GI) tract sampling capsule, and to utilize this device to advance our understanding of gastrointestinal disorders. CapScan is a novel ingestible device with the potential to routinely collect and analyze the microbiota of the GI tract, including the metabolic transformation of food products by gut microbes. We will develop, bench test and assess the safety, reproducibility, regional specificity of the CapScan device on healthy human volunteers. We will then utilize the CapScan device in two additional studies to test the effect of a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) on the microbiome and metabolome and to measure the regional differences in the GI tract in patients with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) before and after antibiotic treatment. Given the centrality of the gut to human health, there will likely be additional uses of the CapScan technology in monitoring a person's health, eventually making CapScan as routine and informative in the practice of medicine as a blood test is today.