Following publication of this article [1], concerns were raised about the origin of stool samples used to generate the microbiome dataset. Specifically, concerns were raised about the possible inclusion of samples from participants affected by health conditions or antibiotic usage, and non-humans.
1.Almonacid DE, Kraal L, Ossandon FJ, Budovskaya YV, Cardenas JP, Bik EM, et al. (2017) 16S rRNA gene sequencing and healthy reference ranges for 28 clinically relevant microbial taxa from the human gut microbiome. PLoS ONE 12(5): e0176555. pmid:28467461
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0276752
According to Grokipedia.com (16 November 2025):
Another alleged conflict stems from Bik's employment as Science Editor at uBiome, a microbiome testing startup, from 2016 to 2018. uBiome collapsed amid federal charges of fraud in 2019, involving inflated test kits and falsified data to secure billing.[58] Detractors, including social media commentators, accused Bik of failing to detect or publicly address misconduct during her tenure, despite her expertise in image forensics, and noted her co-authorship on papers with uBiome's indicted co-founders even after early red flags.[59] One such paper, on which Bik was a co-author, received an expression of concern in 2022 over methodological issues tied to uBiome's data practices.[60] Bik has disclosed in prior work that her integrity analyses were conducted outside uBiome hours and without company involvement, but critics argue her silence on internal fraud—while later positioning herself as an independent watchdog—raises questions about selective application of scrutiny.[32] Insiders reported broader flaws in uBiome's science during her time, though Bik later acknowledged problems with the company's research.[58]
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