Seed Health launches computational biology platform to expand pipeline beyond the gut

The platform is powered by the Human Phenotype Project—a multi-omics data set emerging from the lab of Professor Eran Segal, PhD, at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. According to Seed, CODA elucidates previously unknown connections between the microbiome and health to develop targeted, outcome-specific interventions.

The company is initially targeting four key programs to translate insights from the Human Phenotype Project: Cardiometabolic health; brain health; menopause; and longevity.

A spokesperson for the company told NutraIngredients-USA that the first product out of CODA is scheduled for launch later this year, targeting brain health. 

Seed ​

Widely known for its consumer health brand Seed, the company currently has two consumer products: DS-01 Daily Synbiotic for adults and PDS-08, a pediatric synbiotic.

DS-01, a broad-spectrum probiotic with 24 genetically distinct microorganisms across 12 species, was developed with Dr. Gregor Reid, Seed Health's scientific advisor, former president of the International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) and former chair of the UN-World Health Organization Expert Panel that authored the global scientific definition of probiotics. The product won the NutraIngredients-USA Award for probiotic product of the year in 2022.

PDS-08 launched in 2022 and is a first multi-strain synbiotic formulated with L. salivarius​ LS01, Bifidobacterium breve​ B632, B. breve​ BR03, B. lactis​ BPL1, B. longum​ ES1, L. casei​ BPL4, L. rhamnosus​ GG, L. acidophilus​ NCFM and B. animalis​ subsp. lactis​ Bi-07.

Beyond the consumer products, Seed also has a biotech platform for microbiome science.

Dataset​

CODA's dataset integrates over three million phenotypic data points from more than 13,000 individuals across 40,000 cumulative subject years, combining microbiome analysis with genetic, immune, metabolomic and proteomic data, according to Seed.

The multidimensional approach captures the diversity of human health factors, including biological, environmental and dietary influences, lifestyles and medical histories.

CODA’s combinatorial dataset unlocks a new level of insight into the microbiome's complex interactions with key biological systems, including the gut-brain, gut-heart, gut-liver, gut-skin and gut-eye axes. This has enabled the groundbreaking development of organ-specific clocks, revealing the diverse aging rates of different organs within the same individual.

“Our development of organ-specific clocks has revealed the microbiome's extraordinary capacity not just to predict but to actively shape health outcomes across key biological systems," stated Prof. Segal. "CODA empowers the transition from insight to action, enabling the creation of interventions that target health outcomes across these different organ systems to support lifelong health.”

Raja Dhir, co-founder of Seed Health, added: “Our CODA platform is tracking the health data of tens of thousands of individuals over decades, offering a comprehensive, multi-omics perspective. This allows us to uncover and address critical connections between the microbiome and health, enabling the creation of targeted interventions to improve outcomes across diverse populations.”

Metabolic and brain Health​

Prof. Segal and his co-workers at the Weizmann Institute have already authored a couple of papers exploring a microbial gene-based analysis that found a direct correlation between variations in microbial genes and body weight and composition (based on 3,500 unique DEXA scans). This work was published in Nature Medicine​​.

A second study from the group revealed how diet modifies metabolic parameters through microbiome modulation, highlighting a causal relationship (Nat. Commun., ​​2023, ​14​, 5384​). According to Seed, CODA is translating these groundbreaking discoveries into consumer health products for metabolic health.

The platform is also investigating the crucial links between the gut-brain and gut-eye axes, illuminating how dietary compounds interact with the microbiome to impact brain health. Early findings reportedly underscore the significant role of microbial metabolites in brain development and function, setting the stage for microbiome-targeted interventions to enhance neurocognitive health, said Seed.

Menopause and longevity​

Seed is also using CODA to explore the distinction between biological and chronological age, focusing on organ-specific functions and sex differences. Using these insights, the company said it will develop targeted interventions to support immediate health, as well as long-term well-being and longevity.

Linked to aging, the last of the four programs focuses on menopause and the discovery of a significant acceleration in Biological Age (BA) during menopause. This provides a strong signal for targeted intervention, said the company, and offers the opportunity to develop innovative solutions to mitigate menopause-induced symptoms and age acceleration.

“CODA enables the development of next-generation precision probiotics in a uniquely powerful way,” said Dirk Gevers, PhD, chief scientific officer of Seed Health. “Rather than relying on a few biomarkers in isolation, CODA empowers us to examine them within a network of hundreds of other biological data points.

“This comprehensive approach allows us to unravel the complex interactions between diet, supplementation, the microbiome and multi-system human health more effectively than before.”

“CODA significantly expands our platform's capacity to realize the full promise of the microbiome,” added Ara Katz, co-CEO and co-founder of Seed Health. “With a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the microbiome’s role in human health, we are better positioned to translate these breakthrough research findings into interventions that have a meaningful impact on human health globally.”