Biotech startup joins quest to harness microbiome to untether reliance on antibiotics in women's health

Harnessing data gathered as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Human Microbiome Project, the co-editor-in-chief of the journal Microbiome, Jacques Ravel, has formed a biotechnology company focused on women’s health.

The company, christened Luca Biologics, has leaned on 15 years of Ravel’s vaginal microbiome research to develop a pipeline of therapeutics designed to treat urinary tract infections (UTI), preterm birth and bacterial vaginosis.