Episode 023 - Dr Simon Baunwall
In episode 23 we chat with Dr. Simon Baunwall, a medical doctor and scientific researcher focused on fecal microbiota transplantation, also known as FMT. Dr. Baunwall is based at Arras University Hospital in Denmark.
This conversation centred around the establishment of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) as a therapy in Denmark.
Simon talked to us about his work which centres around establishing FMT as a standardised, scalable approach using a blood banking type model, is fascinating. We talked about his perspectives on how the field might evolve looking forward, the next indication after recurring C-difficile infection, and the progression of FMT delivered by colonoscopy to delivery by capsules.
And we had some interesting philosophical discussions around what is the mechanism of action and how do you define a dose. This is important, as historically what researchers have used is the wet mass of starting material, in other words, stool, that goes into the process. But what we discussed is actually, that's probably not a good definition or metric for dose!
Additionally, we talked about the regulations, which Simon's been very heavily involved with. I particularly enjoyed this episode because Simon is a self-confessed lover of the Inside Matters podcast.
In fact, he has listened to pretty much all the episodes. So it was amazing to have a loyal listener on the podcast to talk about their fantastic work in the microbiome and FMT space.
Now, the podcast has actually been starting to get some really decent traction and I'm. pretty excited to be honest with you.
We started the Inside Matters podcast about a year ago with the aim of giving high-quality gut health content to all of the listeners and that's what we're doing. We've done over 20 episodes, we're pushing 35 5-star reviews on Spotify, similar traction on other podcast apps like Apple, we wouldn't be doing what we're doing if it wasn't for you, the listener.
So thank you for supporting the podcast. Please keep engaging with us.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:38 How Simon got involved in the microbiome
00:04:01 We can do better
00:05:47 Low tech
00:09:21 Patient improvement
00:12:33 The metabolite perspective
00:14:18 How the process is evolving
00:19:31 Universally perfect donor?
00:23:29 Are we doing too much?
00:25:25 Likelihood of false-positives
00:30:18 Undergoing repeated screenings
00:42:02 Preparing for it going wrong
00:44:51 Safety issues
00:50:29 What is your vision?
00:57:31 Is it actually safe?
01:01:48 Building in scale
01:05:20 Accessing screening as a private company
01:10:43 Two different donor types
01:20:09 The struggle to get enough donors
01:24:15 Limitations of diet studies
01:28:07 Dr Mark Hyman
01:30:39 Regulating FMT
01:34:50 Presenting stool as a “drug”