# A microbiome test is only a photograph. Your body is a film.

> A microbiome test tells you which bacteria you have today. Your body, however, is a story that continues. Why NostraBiome builds a continuous biological model — and why DeepGene is only the initialization.

- Source: NostraBiome (https://nostrabiome.ai)
- Published: 2026-09-28
- Language: en
- Canonical URL: https://nostrabiome.ai/press/a-microbiome-test-is-only-a-photograph
- Press contact: cp@nostrabiome.com

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In recent years, microbiome testing has become increasingly popular.

You send in a sample. You receive a report. You see bacteria, percentages, charts, maybe a few recommendations about diet and probiotics.

It's a beginning.

But if you arrived at a microbiome test because you are dealing with bloating, diarrhea, constipation, inflammation, fatigue or a medical problem that has continued for months or years, your real question is probably not:

> “What bacteria do I have?”

It is:

> “Why do I feel this way, and what can I do to feel better?”

And these are two very different questions.

## The microbiome is only one part of your biology

The same bacterium can carry different meanings from one person to another.

The strain matters. The genes it carries matter. What it can produce matters. The other microorganisms around it matter.

But the person it lives in matters too.

Your genetics. Your blood work. Your diagnoses. Your medications. What you eat. How you sleep. Your symptoms. What happened last week and how you responded to the changes you made.

That is why, at NostraBiome, we started from a simple idea:

We don't want to build yet another test that tells you which bacteria you have. We want to build a model of you.

And DeepGene is the point from which that model can begin.

## DeepGene: two genomes from a single sample

DeepGene starts from a single stool sample, collected at home.

But instead of searching for just a marker gene to approximate the composition of the microbiome, it uses shotgun metagenomic sequencing to read the DNA present in the sample.

This allows us to analyze the gut ecosystem in much more depth: bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses, resolution down to strain level where the data allows and, very importantly, the genes and functional capacities present in the microbial community.

But there is also other DNA in the same sample.

Yours.

DeepGene separates and analyzes the human DNA available in the sample, so that the microbiome is no longer viewed in isolation from the organism it lives in.

Instead of:

> “This is your microbiome.”

we can start to ask a much more interesting question:

> “What happens when your microbiome meets your biology?”

## Because a list of bacteria is not yet an explanation

Suppose two people have the same bacterial species in their gut.

That does not automatically mean that this bacterium does the same thing in both organisms.

The strains can be different. Their genes can be different. The gut environment can be different. Diet can be different. The two people's genetic predisposition is different.

And, perhaps most importantly, the body's response can be completely different.

That is why DeepGene was not built to produce just a ranking of “good” and “bad” bacteria.

The goal is to create a biological baseline: a zero point as deep as possible from which we can begin to understand you.

## This is where the test ends. And the important part begins.

A test taken today tells you something about today.

But your body changes tomorrow.

You start a treatment.

You change your diet.

Sleep improves or gets worse.

New symptoms appear.

The bloating disappears, but fatigue appears.

Inflammatory markers change.

You lose weight or gain weight.

The microbiome changes.

And three months from now you are no longer exactly the person we measured on day one.

That is why, for us, DeepGene is not the destination. It is the initialization.

The result can become the starting point for NostraAI — the personal model in which your microbiome and your genetics can be connected with blood work, medical history, treatments, symptoms, diet, lifestyle and the data you add over time.

Instead of handing you a PDF and ending the relationship there, we build context.

One single model of you.

## From “what do I have?” to “what has changed?”

This is where the difference between testing and continuous understanding appears.

Imagine that one day you tell NostraAI:

> “For the last three days I've been bloating a lot after dinner.”

The question no longer exists in isolation.

The model may already have the context of your microbiome, your genetic predispositions, the history of your symptoms, the lab results you entered before, your treatment and your recent changes.

Then, two weeks later:

> “Since I changed my diet, the problem is gone.”

This becomes new information.

Action → response.

And over time, this very sequence can become one of the most valuable sources of information about you.

Not just who you are, biologically.

But how your body responds to what you do.

## Your body is not a photograph

Medicine still works, to a large extent, through photographs.

A blood test today.

A consultation in three months.

A genetic test once in a lifetime.

A microbiome test when a problem appears.

Each of these can be useful.

But you exist in between them.

That is why NostraBiome tries to connect these points into a trajectory:

DNA → microbiome → lab results → treatment → symptoms → action → response → change.

DeepGene provides the initial depth.

Your data provides the context.

Time shows us the change.

And the model tries to understand them together.

## And what if you have already taken a microbiome test?

You don't necessarily have to start from zero.

If you already have microbiome, genetics, lab or other compatible results, these can become the starting point of your model.

DeepGene exists for those who want to start with a much deeper biological picture: microbiome and human DNA from the same sample.

But the NostraBiome idea is bigger than any particular test.

Your data should work together, not sit in ten different PDFs.

## Maybe the future is not “a better test”

Maybe the wrong question is:

Which is the best microbiome test?

Because no matter how good a test is, it measures a moment.

The more important question is:

What happens after the test?

Can the system understand the result in your context?

Can it integrate a new lab result two months later?

Does it remember how you felt before?

Does it know what you changed in between?

Can it compare what you did with how your body responded?

Can it continue from where it left off, instead of starting from zero?

This is the direction in which we are building NostraBiome.

DeepGene is one of the deepest ways to begin.

But the product we want to build is not a box that arrives by courier.

It is the continuous understanding of a single person: you.

## Start with your biology

If you don't have data yet, you can start with DeepGene: microbiome and human DNA from a single sample, then connected in your NostraAI model.

If you already have a microbiome test, lab results or other results, you can start directly with them.

Because the goal is not to take one more test.

The goal is for the data you have about your body to finally start telling the same story.

## About NostraBiome.

NostraBiome builds the personal biological model — microbiome, genetics, lab results, medical history and day-to-day life, in a single representation that evolves with you. The product is a CE-marked software medical device, in compliance with the European EU MDR framework and registered in EUDAMED. www.nostrabiome.ai

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Read the full release online: https://nostrabiome.ai/press/a-microbiome-test-is-only-a-photograph