Promoting Understanding of the Human Microbiome and Inclusive Science

The Global Microbiome Conservancy (GMbC) program at OpenBiome provides access to a globally representative, nonprofit microbiome collection that houses over 1,200 microbiome samples and 10,000 genome-sequenced bacterial isolates. We are currently offering GMbC Starter Kits, which contain 48 anaerobic bacterial seed stocks derived from stool samples donated by diverse, highly underrepresented communities around the world.

GMbC program biobanking is performed in accordance with international regulations including the Convention on Biological Diversity and Nagoya Protocol, and overseen by the program's Science and Ethics Advisory Board. As part of our commitment to equitable collaborations, the GMbC program works to grow research capacity, as needed, of our scientific collaborators in low- and middle-income countries, and implement benefit sharing programs for communities providing microbiome samples.