We are excited to share the results of our Gut Microbiome Pilot Study, a crucial step in expanding the ABC Study's epidemiological and biological resources. In 2019, we invited a small group of ABC Study participants to take part in a pilot project, testing the feasibility of home-based faecal sample collection.
Participants were asked to provide samples using a faecal occult blood test (FOBT) card. Some participants also provided an additional faecal sample in a small ethanol-filled tube. Participants posted the samples to our collaborators at Precision Medicine Biorepository (PMB), Monash University, where they are currently stored. We also asked participants to complete a longer questionnaire about their diet and lifestyle.
The response to participate in the pilot study was impressive: over half of those invited chose to take part, and almost 90% of those returned a sample. Adding an extra tube or a longer questionnaire didn’t discourage participation, suggesting that our cohort is both generous and motivated to contribute to vital research.
Participant feedback helped us fine-tune our instructions and improve our communications. For example, we updated our materials to clarify when and how to take the samples, and we added additional reminder messages via SMS, phone call, and email. These adjustments helped to optimise participation when we rolled-out the faecal sampling to the entire ABC Study cohort between 2020 and 2024.
Since the pilot study was completed, more than 22,000 ABC Study participants have provided a faecal sample, creating one of the largest gut microbiome datasets in the world. This large collection of samples will allow our team to investigate the gut microbiome, the community of microorganisms (e.g. bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites) and their metabolic products that inhabit the human gut.
Thank you to everyone who took part in this pilot and to the many more who have contributed faecal samples since. Your involvement is helping us open a new area of research to understand how our gut health affects our risk of cancer and other diseases, with the potential to improve cancer prevention and public health outcomes for years to come.
The findings from the Gut Microbiome Pilot Study have been submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
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