Transbiome
Understanding the neovaginal microbiome of transwomen
What is the ecology of the neovagina?
Transwomen who undergo affirmation surgery have a new organ – the neovagina – with real gynecological needs! This includes the potential for infections & unhealthy microbial environments. Every part of our body has small organisms (bacteria and fungi), and normally these are a healthy ecology of microbes – our "microbiomes".
Right now, we have very little idea of what a "normal" microbiome is for transwomen. This study seeks to change that!
We invite transwomen to join and share samples for this research. We'll send you a kit to self-collect a specimen, along with a short survey. We'll also share the results of our research – our findings, as well as your individual microbiome data – should you want them.
About us
The idea for this study came from a transwoman and the majority of our team is trans.
This research is performed in the Peer-Produced Research Lab at the Center for Research & Interdisciplinarity (Université de Paris, Inserm U1284). Meet our study team:
Clara Lehenaff
Initiator and creator of the Transbiome study. MtX non-binary, Master student at the Center for Research & Interdisciplinarity.
Mad Ball, PhD
Co-advisor for this study. FtX non-binary, Associate Faculty at the Center for Research & Interdisciplinarity and Executive Director of Open Humans Foundation.
Bastian Greshake Tzovaras, PhD
Coordinator for this study. Team leader of the Peer-Produced Research Lab. Research fellow at the Center for Research & Interdisciplinarity.