Researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have developed an innovative ingestible capsule that collects bacteria from the small intestine, offering a window into a part of the gut largely overlooked by conventional stool tests.
The CORAL (Cellularly Organized Repeating Lattice) capsule, designed by Khalil Ramadi, assistant professor of Bioengineering at NYUAD and NYU Tandon, provides a passive, non-invasive method to sample the upper gut microbiome. The device is 3D-printed in a single step, contains no moving parts, and begins sampling only upon reaching the small intestine.
Published in Device, the study demonstrates that CORAL delivers a more accurate representation of the small intestine microbiome than fecal samples, which primarily reflect bacterial populations from the large intestine. “Fecal samples, though convenient, do not capture the microbial communities unique to different gut regions,” said Ramadi, who directs the Laboratory for Advanced Neuroengineering and Translational Medicine at NYUAD.
The small intestine plays a critical role in metabolism and immunity, hosting distinct microbial populations linked to immune and metabolic disorders. “The CORAL capsule accesses bacteria that are otherwise unreachable, addressing a major blind spot in microbiome research,” said Aashish Jha, assistant professor of Biology at NYUAD and co-senior author. “Studying these upstream communities could advance early disease detection and enable targeted therapies.”
CORAL’s design relies on mathematically defined lattice structures that trap bacteria as the capsule moves naturally through the digestive tract. In animal studies, the capsule successfully captured bacterial populations from the small intestine that differed markedly from those found in stool samples, including elevated levels of beneficial Lactobacillus species.
The research team is now focused on scaling the capsule for human use and developing efficient retrieval methods. Commercialization is underway through startAD’s HealthX accelerator program.
Co-authors include Sadaf Usmani, Brij Bhushan, Anique Ahmad, Oraib Al-Ketan, Ahmed A. Shibl, Maylis Boitet, Heba Naser (NYUAD), and Devjoy Dev (NYUAD and NYU Tandon). The study was supported by the NYUAD Research Institute Award, with additional funding from the Al Jalila Foundation and NYU Langone’s Parekh Center, and utilized NYUAD’s Core Technology Platforms.
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