About the Project

Your Private Biome is an open­source citizen scientist research project that is designed to help scientists better understand how all the bacteria in the vagina and the penis–the genital microbiome–affects women’s and men’s health. We hope this study will lead to better diagnostic tests and personalized care for all.

You can help us to achieve this goal. The project is now available to the public. You can now participate by purchasing a kit and becoming a citizen scientist to study your own microbiome!

Each kit includes sampling tools and an online survey that allow you to sample yourself and submit a private survey to tell us more about your health. This will help us to understand what makes everyone different and better define health and diseases in both women and men.

In return, you will receive a report of what your microbiome looks like and how it compares to other participants in the study. Your support through your kit purchase and participation is crucial to this project’s success. Thank you!

How it Will Work

It’s simple to join!

Step One

Select your kit and complete your purchase. You will receive the sampling kit(s) and each kit can be used by yourself or gifted to someone else.

While you can withdraw at any time from the project by contacting the research team and your samples and associated data will be destroyed and excluded from the study, the purchase is not refundable.

Step Two

You can use the unique ID from the sampling kit to enroll in the study by activating the kit and creating a secure account on the Your Private Biome website. You will be asked to fill out the following:

• The online consent form
• The online questionnaire

Once the consent form and questionnaire are completed, you can sign the paper consent form in the kit and sample yourself by following the instructions provided with the kit. If you are collecting more than one sample, you will be asked to complete a short follow-up survey before you collect each additional sample.

Step Three

Use the pre-paid envelope to ship the sample(s) and the consent form back to us. You will receive an email when your sample(s) have been processed and the results are ready for viewing.

THE KITS