Seed Health, a microbial sciences company, has acquired Auggi, a digital health company with a suite of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to track and analyse digestive health.

California-based Seed Health will acquire New York firm Auggi’s technology assets, including its AI algorithm for real-time Bristol stool typing, the world’s largest stool image database, and a mobile monitoring application for clinical research.

Auggi’s augmented gastroenterology deep learning algorithms for automated stool image detection and consistency characterisation use computer vision and deep convolutional neural networks to quantify and characterise objectively an individual’s stool over time.

The most recent iteration of its technology, developed in collaboration with gastroenterologists at Massachusetts General Hospital, referenced benchmark data from the Bristol Stool Chart and was trained by the largest bank of stool imagery assembled to date, amassed by Seed’s 2019 GiveAShit community science initiative.

“We are excited that Seed Health will carry our vision forward, stewarding new applications of our technology to empower people with greater insights about their digestive health,” said Auggi co-founder David Hachuel. “We look forward to seeing our technologies enrich clinical research and improve human quality of life, which is so significantly impacted by gastrointestinal health.”

The Bristol stool chart, first published in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology in 1997, classifies human stool into seven categories and is a globally-recognised diagnostic tool. However, traditional methods of tracking and characterising stool are subjective, inconsistent, burdensome and hampered by poor adherence.

With their proprietary image database, Auggi’s deep neural networks can accurately detect and characterise stool with 94% accuracy – measured in the ability to predict the right Bristol class within one Bristol level – as compared with 75% accuracy from self-assessment.

Seed plans to launch its first consumer-focused digital product using the AI and stool database this year, and is also testing a companion tracking and educational experience for its flagship probiotic, DS-01, to improve adherence, outcomes and retention.

The acquisition will enable Seed Health to integrate Auggi’s mobile tracking application across its human clinical trials assessing DS-01 and the gut microbiota in IBS, constipation and after antibiotic consumption. Study participants can quickly report day-to-day gastrointestinal symptoms and quality of life inputs, whereas previous GI-related clinical research has relied on often inconsistent and inaccurate manual reporting.

“Stool is one of the most valuable, but stigmatised, biomarkers of gastrointestinal health,” said Seed Health co-founder and co-CEO Ara Katz. “Tracking and accurate characterisation could empower individuals and their providers with important, actionable insights. Building on recent research that explores digital augmentation of an intervention, we are also developing applications of Auggi’s AI to improve adherence and outcomes when used in combination with DS-01, Seed’s daily synbiotic. We are excited to build on Auggi’s vision and inspire novel uses of their technology.”

This technology is deployed in Seed Health’s ongoing phase II randomised, triple-blind and placebo-controlled clinical trial to investigate the role of the gut microbiome in patients with irritable bowel syndrome at Beth Israel Deaconess medical centre.

Seed Health is a microbial sciences company pioneering applications of bacteria to impact human and environmental health. In collaboration with academic partners, it accelerates science into live biotherapeutics and innovations for consumer health. The current pipeline includes interventions for infectious disease, allergy and inflammatory conditions across various body sites.

Auggi is a digital health company founded by David Hachuel and Alfonso Martinez that leverages the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning for gastrointestinal health. In collaboration with physicians and with the support of Cornell Tech and MIT, Auggi has developed intelligent systems to monitor gut symptoms and apply computer vision algorithms to characterise stool from simple smartphone pictures.