AnimalBiome has selected Loop Genomics 16s Microbiome kits to help it expanded its microbiome testing capabilities to provide veterinarians with practical, clinically-actionable insights regarding the gut health of dogs and cats.  Proactive management of the gut microbiome holds great potential to reduce the incidence of chronic illnesses, including Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Metabolic Syndrome, among others.  In fact, more than 50% of pets will develop a condition associated with an imbalance in the microbiome in their lifetime. 

By selecting the Loop Genomics’ technology AnimalBiome was able to leverage in-house Illumina sequencing instruments they already had and deliver long-read sequencing results at a fraction of the cost of most other systems with a much lower error rate.

AnimlaBiome’s scientific team, led by founder Holly Ganz, PhD, has used Loop’s technology to deploy new testing protocols to characterize bacterial and fungal species that may be present in the microbiome and affecting a pet’s health.

Because species-level identifications are important for identifying the presence of pathogens, AnimalBiome is now leveraging recent breakthroughs by Loop Genomics to sequence full length 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA genes on the Illumina platform. This testing service, the Gut Function + Pathogen Test ($145), available on its own and as an upgrade to the Microbiome Assessment, allows AnimalBiome to identify both bacteria and fungi to the species level, distinguishing beneficial bacteria from clinically relevant pathogens such as Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens.  In addition, this test identifies fungi and helps clinicians assess whether there is a yeast overgrowth.  Veterinarians are using insights from this new test to guide further pathogen testing, antibiotic screening, and recommend treatment plans.

The Loop Genomics’ platform will allow AnimalBiome to provide an affordable Microbiome test identifying the presence and relative abundance of bacterial groups based on sequencing the entire V1-V9 region of the 16s molecule with phasing. They have built a massive reference database of pet dog and cat gut microbiome samples to identify imbalances and over-representation of certain bacterial groups relative to healthy dogs and cats.  Veterinarians are provided with actionable insights to guide dietary, supplement and other lifestyle changes. 

​