In an interview at the Microbiome Movement event in Barcelona, Celine Druart, from the Pharmabiotic Research Institute, highlighted critical challenges in the microbiome field, particularly around the standardization of clinical protocols and analytical methods.
While there is a growing need for improved transparency and data reproducibility, Druart emphasized that standardization of clinical designs might not be as crucial as aligning analytical methods.
This approach aims to ensure consistency in data quality, reduce discrepancies between studies, and build trust in microbiome-based innovations. She discussed the importance of sharing detailed metadata and outlined recent advancements, such as ISO technical sheets and reference materials from organizations like MHRA and WHO, which can help enhance the comparability of microbiome data across studies.
Druart also shared a real-world example of discrepancies in microbiome analysis, illustrating the significant challenge of false positives and misidentification of strains, which hinder accurate data interpretation.
