Erin Brodwin

<p>Ketamine, a drug once associated with raucous parties, bright lights, and loud music, is increasingly being embraced as an alternative depression treatment for the millions of patients who don't get better after trying traditional medications.</p>

<p>The latest provider of the treatment is Columbia University, one of the nation's largest academic medical centers.</p>

<p>Starting this month, Columbia <a href="https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/news/columbia-psychiatry-launches-its-next-generation-brain-therapeutics-program-ketamine-treatment" id="81097cf3-e870-3ed3-afc4-e89056a118c8">  joined </a> a growing list of major medical centers offering <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ketamine-depression-brain-how-it-works-opioid-2018-8?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="0fe8fbe4-e2dd-33af-ac41-e0fb76a7f9bd">  ketamine </a> infusions to patients with severe depression, for whom traditional antidepressants like Prozac or Celexa have failed.</p>

<p>Elsewhere in the US, patients can get ketamine at a smattering of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ketamine-depression-clinic-visit-drug-infusion-2017-10?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="5e75520a-29ac-3c1c-a3df-b8be8e5efdab">  private clinics </a> , but not all of them <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2018/09/27/podcast-fish-oil-vc-monopolies-ketamine/" id="1bfb1248-061a-3e04-afab-68881aaa1c21">  are subject </a> to the strict medical oversight that's generally required of academic medical centers. In some cases, patients can also get the treatment by participating in research studies, but Columbia's move helps make the treatment more broadly available.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/drugs-for-depression-ketamine-2018-4?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="950a23e9-2f63-3f73-a49d-b0bc56104bf0">  Ketamine </a> is not cheap, and it isn't quick to administer. Because it's given by way of an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ketamine-depression-clinic-visit-drug-infusion-2017-10?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="8e236341-856d-32ae-aa6c-4b4383063f57">  IV drip </a> , the process can take between 45 minutes and two hours. Each session costs $500 to $750 (Columbia is charging $650) and is not covered by insurance, because ketamine is only approved in the US for use as an anesthetic.</p>

<p>Patients given ketamine for depression are typically advised to get 8 to 12 sessions, bringing the total cost to as much as $9,000.</p>

<p>Despite its hefty price, ketamine has been called " <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/338/6103/68.full" id="f329fdfd-0874-3a8e-af3d-0141885f7ebd">  the most important discovery in half a century </a> " for mental illness. The drug appears to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/drugs-for-depression-ketamine-2018-4?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="b32f39c4-4728-37b0-ad96-c57a7b595332">  engage a different part of the brain </a> from traditional antidepressants, and its apparent rapid-fire effects may be especially useful for staunching suicidal thinking in people who are considering taking their own lives, experts say. Ketamine also has a long history of being used to prevent pain, which suggests to clinicians that it's relatively safe.</p>

<p>"Ketamine is the real deal in that it’s a genuine pharmacologic agent that’s been used for a long time for anesthesia," <a href="https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/profile/jeffrey-lieberman-md" id="28edfcdb-fd6e-3940-a119-68fe4c63a143">  Jeffrey Lieberman </a> , the chair of the psychiatry department at Columbia University's Irving Medical Center, told Business Insider.</p>

<p>And while ketamine's applications for mental illness are relatively recent, Lieberman is hopeful that the drug will eventually be more widely available to patients in need.</p>

<h1> 'The most important discovery in half a century'? </h1>

<p>Those are the patients who experts say <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/drugs-for-depression-ketamine-2018-4?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="c4476d73-cb28-335d-ac03-f34deb720e5b">  ketamine </a> might help.</p>

<p>In those patients, it can be helpful to think of depression as akin to severe pain, <a href="https://www.massgeneral.org/doctors/doctor.aspx?id=18473" id="f239a0db-42ba-3ede-aa01-3de92bc8c6a2">  Cristina Cusin </a> , a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard University, told Business Insider this spring. When the pain gets so intense that it gets in the way of everyday activities — even something as simple as writing an email — patients can feel desperate enough to do anything to alleviate the suffering. But antidepressants take 4-6 weeks to work.</p>

<p>That's not good enough for patients who need help now, said Cusin.</p>

<p><strong> Read more: </strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ketamine-depression-clinic-visit-drug-infusion-2017-10?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="20d9d8df-1ad4-3ae5-ab8d-2f5983b64688">  A handful of clinics is embracing a 'party drug' that could be a rapid-fire depression treatment — we got a look inside </a></p>

<h1> A growing list of providers offering ketamine </h1>

<p>On the West Coast, the University of California in San Diego <a href="https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/UCSD-Psychiatrist-Uses-Party-Drug-Special-K-to-Treat-Depression-PTSD-353115081.html" id="9f220c08-eaf4-3f9c-a5ea-f46a61257503">  began </a> offering the infusions to select patients with severe depression in 2010. Kaiser Permanente <a href="https://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/sites/default/files/Mental%20Health%20America%20Ketamine%20Presentation%20June%202017.ppt" id="4ad73dcf-b91a-3278-a9aa-5bdfb90ac22f">  started </a> administering ketamine as part of a pilot program in Northern California for people who didn't respond to other medications in 2015.</p>

<p>On the opposite side of the country, a handful of specialty centers recently began offering the treatments. They include Emory University, Yale University, and Massachusetts General Hospital, which began offering the treatments this fall.</p>

<p>Several other medical centers, including the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic, and the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/custom-media/mount-sinai/in-an-old-drug-new-hope-for-depression/" id="dbe20b4e-c40c-3902-a7fe-f4070307536c">  Icahn School of Medicine </a> at Mount Sinai, are administering the drug as part of ongoing research on ketamine and depression.</p>

<p>“The rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine in patients with severe, chronic, and treatment-resistant forms of this illness may represent a true medical breakthrough,” James Murrough, the director of the mood and anxiety disorders program and an associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine, wrote in an <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/custom-media/mount-sinai/in-an-old-drug-new-hope-for-depression/" id="1470ac33-b708-3600-aea4-a2641820b086">  October story </a> for Scientific American.</p>

<p>Columbia University's program is one of the first to not require patients to show a specific number of failed treatments for depression in the past. (At Kaiser, patients must show that they've tried at least three different antidepressants and failed to respond to each one.)</p>

<p>Still, Lieberman stressed to Business Insider that experts carefully weigh the benefits and risks before recommending the treatment to a patient, and they always advise people to try traditional medications first.</p>

<p>"We have to do a very careful history and if [someone has] a mood disorder, what’s their treatment been? Is the person genuinely unresponsive to standard treatments?" Lieberman said.</p>

<p>Ketamine is believed to engage a different brain system from the one targeted by traditional antidepressants. It appears to act on key switches in the brain called NMDA receptors, which influence mood and help keep our brain's synapses — the delicate branches that serve as the ecosystem for our thoughts — flexible and resilient.</p>

<p>Depression damages these brain switches. And while traditional drugs may help to rescue them over time using serotonin, ketamine appears to deliver its aid directly to the source, plugging up NMDA receptors like a cork in a bottle and nipping depressive symptoms quickly.</p>

<p>A spate of recent research supports this idea of how ketamine provides relief.</p>

<p>Last December, researchers working with depressed and suicidal patients concluded in a <a href="https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.17060647" id="c6b6efb9-dad6-3654-a713-f60ccf42a53b">  study </a> that ketamine was better at curbing suicidal thoughts than a commonly used sedative. Most participants <a href="https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.17060647" id="e371975f-7fd5-3ed5-ab0a-5c99f87a347c">  in the study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, </a> said their moods began to lift within 24 hours of receiving the drug. In some people, those effects lasted more than a month.</p>

<p>Similarly, the authors of a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3677048/" id="f2cd4c33-2414-390b-a323-541300bf92af">  2012 review </a> of four preliminary studies on ketamine in patients with severe depression expressed surprise at how rapidly the drug appeared to produce positive and precise results.</p>

<p><strong> Read more: </strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/drugs-for-depression-ketamine-2018-4?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="1f0c3f16-bb11-3b54-a427-1c5df44219b5">  Pharma giants are looking to ketamine for clues to the next blockbuster depression drug — and science says they're onto something big </a></p>

<p>But ketamine also has several drawbacks, aside from its steep price tag.</p>

<p>Ketamine induces what many people refer to as a high. This includes feelings of being dissociated from one's body and floating, as well as seeing bright colors and shapes. Some experts have suggested this could lead to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27261367" id="113431f7-0309-33bd-a139-4cbc2b2f0cc1">  issues with addiction </a> .</p>

<p>In addition, ketamine's side effects can include blurred vision, headaches, and increased heart rate. And clinicians aren't yet sure how long ketamine's anti-depressive effects last. While some patients appear to experience a complete alleviation of their symptoms after several weeks of treatment, others either fail to respond or only see improvement for several days or weeks.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, several clinics outside of established medical centers are also offering the treatments, and while some are legitimate, others are what Lieberman described as "scary" and "aggressive" in their marketing tactics.</p>

<p>"It’s not that ketamine shouldn’t be available — it absolutely should — it just has to be available in a legitimate and medically controlled and rigorous setting," Lieberman said.</p>

<h1> Ketamine is inspiring several attempts to create the next blockbuster depression drug </h1>

<p>Ketamine is also inspiring research into other new depression drugs that work on the brain in a similar way. Homing in on this channel appears to provide depression relief that is better, arrives faster, and works in more people than existing drugs.</p>

<p>Allergan, the multinational pharmaceutical giant known for Botox and birth control, recently dove deep into research on an injectable depression drug called Rapastinel, which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/drugs-for-depression-ketamine-2018-4?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="0a3f084e-2543-3cc7-ab9b-d95b305f094f">  works on the same brain pathway as ketamine </a> . San Francisco-based drug company VistaGen is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/drugs-for-depression-ketamine-2018-4?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="96f4c249-b98e-3b84-af10-31204a3413c4">  working on a similar drug </a> known only as AV-101.</p>

<p>Similarly, Johnson &amp; Johnson submitted a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/depression-medication-treatment-ketamine-2018-5?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="3e932589-823f-3dee-a266-7f18290e0a08">  nasal spray formulation of ketamine </a> called esketamine to the FDA in September for its review. New York-based biotech company Seelos Therapeutics also has a nasal form of ketamine in its pipeline called SLS-002.</p>

<p>But research is still early, experts say.</p>

<p>"We are just scratching the surface of the mechanisms of action with ketamine," Cusin said this spring.</p>

<p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/einstein-reveals-manipulate-time-2016-3?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="01c8cb60-94da-3cf3-ab93-6dcd7ab328f6">  This mind-melting thought experiment of Einstein's reveals how to manipulate time </a></p>

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<p><strong> SEE ALSO: <span id="20d9d8df-1ad4-3ae5-ab8d-2f5983b64688" itemtype="link" itemscope="itemscope">  A handful of clinics is embracing a 'party drug' that could be a rapid-fire depression treatment — we got a look inside </span> </strong></p>

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A 'party drug' with potential to be the next blockbuster antidepressant is edging closer to the mainstream, but it could set you back $9,000

<p>If you've ever taken a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-probiotics-health-benefits-2018-4?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="f6dbde6d-f528-3808-a74f-4a8a9cf8a9a0">  probiotic </a> , eaten yogurt, or added pickles to your sandwich, you've taken a step toward nourishing the vital community of life in your gut collectively known as your microbiome.</p>

<p>In recent years, scientists have described the microbiome as the " <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microbiome-based-drugs-in-development-seres-second-genome-2018-2?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="94a2c38c-5fad-39f5-a3ad-856aa6e4021a">  forgotten organ </a> ," thanks to its emerging role in affecting everything from your mood to your risk of disease.</p>

<p>The communities of bacteria living in our guts and elsewhere are thought to influence everything from our <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/probiotics-can-make-you-skinny-and-happy-2014-6?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="eb25de47-422c-3282-a1b7-96aaaf4d36d2">  mental health </a> to our ability to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/probiotics-can-make-you-skinny-and-happy-2014-6?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="992ba3d1-7bf9-3938-a007-2c58a6fb8ce2">  process fat </a> and gluten.</p>

<p>So when I recently got the chance to try a microbiome testing kit at home for free, I took it. Called the "Explorer," my kit was made by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ubiome-raises-83-million-and-plans-to-get-into-drug-development-2018-9?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="b998795b-255f-3be1-a8b3-1255eb3733de">  uBiome </a> , a Silicon Valley startup. Since its founding in 2012, uBiome has raised nearly $110 million in funding and transformed from a citizen science project to a key player on the life science venture scene.</p>

<p>Investors call uBiome a game-changer. Before the company, we had virtually no central repository for data on the microbiome — data that could ultimately lead to new treatments for deadly diseases.</p>

<p>"We will look back and say, 'I can't believe we lived our lives without this knowledge,'" <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bryan-johnson-os-fund-science-startups-2018-8?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="91562ee1-48ff-347f-a51a-c7c402691e82">  Bryan Johnson </a> , the cofounder of a venture firm called OS Fund that led uBiome's latest funding round, told Business Insider.</p>

<p>My uBiome test results came with a significant surprise. Here's what the experience was like.</p>

<h1> Jessica Richman founded uBiome as a citizen science project in 2012. Since then, her company has quietly risen to prominence. Investors think uBiome's data could be used to design new drugs for things like autoimmune diseases and cancer. </h1>

<p>Richman created uBiome with crowdfunding nearly six years ago, in 2012, the same year that <a href="https://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp" id="8670d6da-8a18-3959-a804-55f0847e5747">  a huge government research initiative focused on the microbiome ended </a> . The Human Microbiome Project's purpose was to study the diverse communities of microbes living in and on our bodies and learn what roles they play in health and disease.</p>

<p>But Richman didn't want to wait years to see those results turn into real products for people.</p>

<p>"I couldn't miss the opportunity to be a part of the beginning of the microbiome revolution," Richman <a href="http://www.femalefounderstories.com/jessica-richman.html" id="7c137f38-678f-331d-ab8e-11b92a0a6c6b">  told Y Combinator </a> , a startup hub that backed uBiome, in 2014.</p>

<p>This September, her company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ubiome-raises-83-million-and-plans-to-get-into-drug-development-2018-9?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="7dbae4a0-4480-3345-a8ef-f0eb0466323d">  raised $83 million </a> in a funding round that transformed it into a key player on the life science venture scene. Hundreds of thousands of customers have since had their microbiomes sequenced by uBiome researchers, and the company hopes that data can offer the first concrete insights into how microbes affect our health.</p>

<p>"uBiome basically invented the category of the microbiome," Johnson said. "What if we could understand this thing that is such a big component of what makes us who we are?"</p>

<h1> So far, uBiome has collected microbiome samples from 250,000 customers, Richman told Business Insider in September. She aims to reach 1 million samples by 2019, she said. </h1>

<h1> I got a free uBiome test kit at an event organized by the Silicon Valley venture firm Rock Health. At $89, the kit the most basic version of the three tests uBiome offers. The others require a physician to sign off. </h1>

<p>Having experienced mild digestive issues for years, I was excited to learn more about how the bacteria in my gut were faring. Would I learn more about what was causing my occasional bloating, cramps, and indigestion? Or walk away from the test more confused than before?</p>

<h1> Called the "Explorer," my test included a set of clear instructions to take my gut sample. But the process wasn't as easy as merely spitting in a tube. </h1>

<p>Instead, I had to take a sample from a bowel movement. That involved using the bathroom, rolling one of the swabs included in the kit over my used toilet paper, and spinning the swab around in a small plastic tube.</p>

<h1> Once the sampling was done, I sealed my tube, mailed it, and registered my kit on uBiome's website. </h1>

<h1> Next, I answered some questions about my diet and lifestyle, designed to help uBiome's researchers assemble the right health recommendations for me based on my results. </h1>

<p>One question asked about the foods I'd eaten in the past 24 hours. It included some common items thought to affect the makeup of your microbiome, such as red meat, fish, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bad-habits-healthy-according-to-science-2018-5?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest#eating-gluten-10" id="2097527f-c4d0-3798-a317-4c83aa80ae7d">  gluten </a> (found in bread, pasta, and baked goods), <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/diet-soda-coke-vs-regular-health-science-2017-12?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="00efdd44-e1ec-3be3-ac18-22aa46fdbb93">  artificial sweeteners </a> (often found in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/diet-soda-coke-vs-regular-health-science-2017-12?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="488d3d3c-18fb-380e-a78d-138cabb395a0">  diet soda </a> , some toothpastes, and protein powders), dairy, and sugar.</p>

<h1> As someone who generally eats anything (except red meat, which I avoid for environmental reasons), I found myself checking nearly all the boxes on some of the questions. </h1>

<h1> When I got my results via email several weeks later, one finding in particular shocked me. </h1>

<h1> The rest of my results seemed pretty normal though. I learned, for example, that I had a healthy portion of the bacteria that help us maintain a healthy weight. </h1>

<p>A variety of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/oby.2009.167" id="82fa154e-d200-323c-a796-5c3ae4ef96d8">  bacteria </a> have been <a href="https://mbio.asm.org/content/7/4/e01018-16" id="1d748e79-b079-3a8f-a20a-59837a96d054">  linked </a> with <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154090" id="2ef44969-4677-3e46-a47a-a69d40d21d05">  helping </a> us maintain a healthy weight, including Akkermansia muciniphila, Bifidobacterium, Coprococcus, and Roseburia.</p>

<p>"Research suggests that people who have higher levels of these bacteria are less likely to be overweight or obese," my uBiome report read.</p>

<p>My sample indicated I had slightly higher-than-average levels of all these bacteria compared with others in the uBiome database — good news for me.</p>

<h1> My report also said I had higher-than-average levels of beneficial, or probiotic, bacteria in my gut, such as the kinds found in yogurt and probiotic supplements. </h1>

<p>Several years ago, I saw a gastroenterologist about my digestive symptoms. At her recommendation, I started taking a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-probiotics-health-benefits-2018-4?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="cdf33e09-7b36-3984-a7f4-7323198ccd19">  daily probiotic supplement </a> and upped my intake of probiotic foods like yogurt, so this part of my uBiome report didn't surprise me.</p>

<h1> I also learned that I have a pretty diverse microbiome that's rich in different kinds of healthy bacteria. This is a good indication that my gut is doing well overall. </h1>

<h1> But the last result shocked me. It said I had 0% of the bacteria that help our bodies break down gluten, the ingredient found in things like bread, baked goods, pasta, and even some sauces. </h1>

<p>Concerned, I called <a href="https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/rushabh-modi/" id="4202166b-0274-349b-a6e3-23d5154e5e82">  Rusha Modi </a> , a gastroenterologist at the University of Southern California, to help walk me through the findings.</p>

<p>I'd already been tested for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-going-gluten-free-makes-you-feel-healthier-2017-3?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="94614013-666c-321b-a3d4-056cf52eb1c7">  celiac disease </a> , a rare and painful genetic disorder that makes people intolerant to gluten, and come up negative. What did this mean?</p>

<h1> One important thing to keep in mind about the uBiome results, Modi told me, is that they are comparative, meaning they look at how your gut microbes compare with the rest of the samples it has gotten. </h1>

<p>Compared with the hundreds of thousands of other samples in uBiome's database, my sample lacked all five strains of bacteria known to help digest gluten. It means that while I may not have celiac disease, I could experience negative side effects from eating gluten that other people don't, such as bloating, gas, and cramps, he said.</p>

<h1> My results are limited by another significant factor as well, Modi said: They showcase what my gut looked like at only a single point in time. </h1>

<p>It would be like taking a photo of your garden and sending it to a friend to get their input on how well the garden was doing year-round, Modi said. Everything from seasons to the weather that day (did it rain? was there a drought?) could influence how the garden appeared in the picture.</p>

<p>To get a more complete picture of what was really going on in my gut, I'd need either multiple snapshots from many different points in time, or a full workup from a specialist, Modi said.</p>

<h1> In essence, though my test couldn't be used as a diagnosis, it could be part of a series of steps I take to learn more about my gut, Modi said. </h1>

<p>Modi had a recommendation for others who want to take these kinds of tests.</p>

<p>"If they're part of a process that encourages you to learn which parts of your lifestyle may or may not be assisting your health, then by all means — as long as you understand that the science of these tests is still emerging — then I think they're great," he said.</p>

<p>But "if you have an expectation that you might get some particular answer about a problem," he said, "then you're probably going to be disappointed."</p>

<h1> I'll keep my finding in mind the next time I choose between a sandwich and a salad. And if I continue to experience issues — especially if they start to interfere with my normal activities — I'll return to a specialist. </h1>

<p>In the meantime, I'm excited to contribute to a wealth of data that uBiome is assembling on the microbiome. And in several years, we'll hopefully have enough of that information to start to reveal meaningful and significant data points that can have real-world applications.</p>

<ul><li> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stanford-juul-ads-photos-teens-e-cig-vaping-2018-11?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest">See how Juul turned teens into influencers and threw buzzy parties to fuel its rise as Silicon Valley's favorite e-cig company</a> </li><li> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-world-longest-sea-bridge-hong-kong2018-10?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest">China just opened the world's longest sea bridge. It cost $20 billion and is 20 times as long as the Golden Gate Bridge.</a> </li><li> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-google-portable-mini-mri-see-inside-body-brain-animal-testing-openwater-2018-11?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest">A superstar ex-Facebook and Google exec is trying to upend a $24 billion industry with devices that spot disease sooner — and she's already testing it on animals</a> </li></ul>

<p><strong> SEE ALSO: <span id="fad611b0-29a4-364e-a53c-8420cd563d56" itemtype="link" itemscope="itemscope">  A startup helping us better understand the bugs that live in us raised $83M to start developing treatments for diseases like cancer </span> </strong></p>

<p><strong> DON'T MISS: <span id="4877db0e-93c6-374f-aac6-fa057e933196" itemtype="link" itemscope="itemscope">  40 AND UNDER: The Silicon Valley biotech stars who are backing startups aiming to cure disease, prolong life, and fix the food system </span> </strong></p>

I tried a test that let me peek inside my microbiome, the 'forgotten organ' that scientists say is the future of medicine — and what I learned shocked me

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Erin Brodwin

Articles written by the author

A 'party drug' with potential to be the next blockbuster antidepressant is edging closer to the mainstream, but it could set you back $9,000

I tried a test that let me peek inside my microbiome, the 'forgotten organ' that scientists say is the future of medicine — and what I learned shocked me