Introducing the Consensus pipeline
Your microbiome analysis, brought up to date: introducing the Consensus pipeline
We've updated the engine behind your Biomesight results. It's called the Consensus pipeline, and it brings the analysis of your stool sample in line with the latest microbiome science and reference data.
What's new
When you send us a sample, we sequence the DNA of the bacteria in it and match those sequences against reference libraries to work out who's there and in what proportion. The Consensus pipeline modernises that step:
- The latest reference libraries. We now read your sample against two current, actively maintained reference databases and reconcile them, rather than relying on a single older reference. More of your sample is identified.
- An up-to-date identification method. Your sequences are matched as exact variants rather than grouped into approximate clusters, so bacteria are named more specifically.
- Refreshed functional insights. The metabolite and functional sections (things like short-chain fatty acids) now draw on updated, evidence-weighted calculations.
What it means for you
Because we're now using newer reference data, a few of your numbers may look different from before, and their healthy ranges have been updated to match. That's completely expected — it reflects the updated references, not a change in your gut. A current number simply isn't measured on the same basis as an older one.
The important part: we've re-analysed every sample we sequenced the same way, so your history stays on a like-for-like footing and you can keep tracking your trends over time. (If you uploaded results from another lab, those aren't part of the re-analysis — we can only reprocess the sequencing we've run ourselves.) For the first few months, the previous and current pipelines run side by side, so nothing is lost in the transition.
Want the full detail?
If you'd like the complete picture — the databases we use, how the scoring works, and a breakdown of everything that's changed — it's all laid out here:
As always, if you have questions about your results, we're here to help. Reach out via email to support@biomesight.com.