The gas-sensing capsule, when swallowed, can electronically report important data about the human gastrointestinal system by detecting gases in real-time from known locations within the gut and using these biomarkers for diagnosis, resulting in targeted treatment, earlier relief of symptoms and reduced healthcare costs.
The ingestible capsule offers a potential diagnostic tool for many disorders of the gut from IBS and IBD to carbohydrate malabsorption and intolerance.
The Atmo Gas Capsule is currently an investigational device exclusively for use in clinical investigations, and is not available for sale.
Gut disorders are one of the most common ailments in the world affecting tens of millions of people.
These disorders include motility abnormalities, SIBO, IBS and IBD. Gases are important biomarkers of disease, dysfunction and dysbiosis.
20% of people suffer from gastrointestinal disorders in their lifetime.
30% of patients remain undiagnosed and suffer from the recurrence of disorders.
IBS affects 25 to 45 million people in the USA and 2 to 5 million in Australia.
GI disorders and disease treatment market (2013 USD).
Unfortunately, current diagnostic methods for gastrointestinal disorders are often highly invasive or rely on subjective symptomatology and questionnaires.
Diagnostic methods such as aspiration, biopsy, endoscopy, motility pills, imaging pills and breath testing all have limitations.
Gas sensing in real-time from within the gut is an accurate, convenient method of diagnosing the common GI conditions affecting the millions of sufferers of food intolerances, motility disorders, SIBO and IBS.
- Jack Gilbert, Microbiologist and Director of the Microbiome Center at the University of Chicago. Source: NPR
A safe and accurate way of measuring the concentration of various gases at the source of production in the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) in real-time.
The Atmo Gas Capsule allows tests to be performed at home, without impacting daily activities.
Patient attends physician’s office to discuss their condition.
Patient swallows Gas Capsule with a standard meal.
Data is continuously transmitted from the Gas Capsule to the receiver, the phone app and the cloud.
Patient goes about their normal lifestyle and inputs symptoms and diet data in real time into the phone app.
Phone app notifies patient when disposable Gas Capsule has been expelled. No retrieval necessary.
Data is analysed and the physician discusses the results with the patient.
Within the Atmo Gas Capsule's 2cm-long polymer shell are gas sensors, a temperature sensor, a microcontroller, a radio-frequency transmitter, and button-sized silver-oxide batteries. The gas sensors are sealed within a special membrane that allows gas in but keeps out stomach acid and digestive juices.
The technology works by using sensors to measure different gases by adjusting their heating elements, and the data can then be transmitted to a mobile phone. Oxygen concentrations are used to track the capsule's progress throughout the GI tract.
Data is transmitted in real-time to a small receiver that can be carried in a pocket or left on the nightstand when someone is home. The receiver in turn transmits the data via Bluetooth to a cell phone, which can post the data online for easy monitoring by users and doctors.
Clinical trials of the Atmo Gas Capsule were conducted on 23 healthy participants adhering to either a low- or high-fibre diet. Results showed that the capsule is safe and reliable, and accurately shows the onset of food fermentation, highlighting their potential to clinically monitor digestion and normal gut health. The trials also demonstrated that the Atmo Gas Capsule could offer a much more effective way of measuring microbiome activities in the stomach, a critical way of determining gut health.
READ PUBLISHED ARTICLEThe current method for measuring gas biomarkers is using breath tests. Breath tests, however, are an indirect measurement technique requiring the gases that are generated in the gut to be absorbed into the blood stream, circulated around the body, transferred into the lungs and finally exhaled out of the mouth. For this reason breath tests show low specificity and sensitivity when compared to the direct method used by the Atmo Gas Capsule.
The Atmo Biosciences Gas Capsule has a unique set of benefits that could revolutionise the way gut disorders and diseases are diagnosed and managed.
At the source of gas production within the gut
Up to 10,000 times better than current standards
Patient data can be aggregated for clinical analysis and predictive algorithms
Cheaper than all current methods
Patients go about their normal life
The size of a common vitamin pill
Data transmitted wirelessly to receiver, phone app and cloud in real-time from known location in the gut
Potential applications span malabsorption to IBD
The Atmo Gas Capsule was invented at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, under the leadership of Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, together with Mr Nam Ha, Dr Kyle Berean, Dr Adam Chrimes and Dr Jian Zhen Ou, and is the result of eight years of research and development.
In 2018, Atmo Biosciences signed a licencing deal with RMIT securing the exclusive worldwide rights to commercialize the capsule. The capsule inventors are continuing to lead research and development at Atmo, in partnership with Planet Innovation.
Atmo Biosciences is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed the audit of its Quality Management System to obtain ISO 13485:2016 accreditation....
Atmo Biosciences is pleased to announce that the European Patent Office and IP Australia have each granted patents related to key intellectual property for Atmo’s ingestible gas sensor capsule, providing coverage until 2037. ...
Atmo Biosciences is pleased to announce publication of a clinical study demonstrating strong agreement between data from Atmo’s world-first ingestible gas-sensing capsule and and a validated, FDA-cleared Wireless Motility Capsule (WMC), in determin...
AUSBIZ
The tiny device revolutionising gut health diagnostics
24 September 2021
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
Gut health medtech Atmo Biosciences raises $9.6m
23 September 2021
BBC
Gas detecting pill could diagnose poor gut health
23 January 2018
MEDICAL REPUBLIC
Digital pills are watching you
18 November 2022
THE AUSTRALIAN (Research Magazine 2023)
The businesses and universities which collaborate best
8 November 2022
BIOWORLD
Atmo’s ingestible gas-sensing capsule tracks transit time through the gastrointestinal tract
6 October 2022
MED-TECH INNOVATION
Internet of Bodies: a data-led healthcare revolution
20 September 2022
STARTUP DAILY
The Victorian government is investing $100 million into university startups
27 June 2022
NUTRITION INSIGHT
Atmo Biosciences lands US$7M for gas-sensing ingestible capsules
24 September 2021
BIOWORLD
Atmo raises AU$9.6M to progress ingestible capsule for analyzing the gut microbiome
24 September 2021
DYNAMIC BUSINESS
Atmo Biosciences secures $9.6m
24 September 2021
AUSBIZ
Atmo CEO Mal Hebblewhite interviewed on ausbiz
14 October 2020
HERALD SUN
RMIT to test gut health in bionic capsule breakthrough
30 September 2018
HEALIO GASTROENTEROLOGY
Gas-sensing capsules show promise as GI diagnostic, monitoring tool
17 January 2018
CLINICAL INNOVATION + TECHNOLOGY
Researchers make 2 discoveries as ingestible capsule finishes human trials
10 January 2018
SBS
The swallowable sensor getting to the guts of digestive health
10 January 2018
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES
Electronic Gas Pill Measures Your Farts Before They Happen
9 January 2018
AMERICAN COUNCIL ON SCIENCE AND HEALTH
A Swallowed Pill Could Monitor Your Gas
8 January 2018
P. A. Thwaites, C. K. Yao, J. Maggo, J. John, A. F. Chrimes, R. E. Burgell, J. G. Muir, F. C. Parker, D. So, K. Kalantar-Zadeh, R. B. Gearry, K. J. Berean, P. R. Gibson, "Comparison of gastrointestinal landmarks using the gas-sensing capsule and wireless motility capsule," Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 2022; 56: 1337–1348.
J. A. Busam, E. D. Shah, "Editorial: what is needed to achieve success in developing diagnostic technologies for patients with gastrointestinal motility disorders - past and present," Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 2022; 56: 1615-1616.
P. A. Thwaites, K. J. Berean, P. R. Gibson, "Editorial: what is needed to achieve success in developing diagnostic technologies for patients with gastrointestinal motility disorders - past and present. Authors' reply," Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 2022; 56: 1617-1618.
M. Pimentel, R.J. Saad, M.D. Long, S. S. C. Rao, "ACG Clinical Guideline: Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth," The American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2020; 115(2): 165-178.
E. M. M. Quigley, "The Spectrum of Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)," Current Gastroenterology Reports. 2019;21(1):3.
S. S. C. Rao, J. Bhagatwala, "Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth: Clinical Features and Therapeutic Management," Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology. 2019;10(10):e00078.
K. J. Berean, N. Ha, J. Z. Ou, A. F. Chrimes, D. Grando, C. K. Yao, J. G. Muir, S. A. Ward, R. E. Burgell, P. R. Gibson, K. Kalantar-zadeh, "The safety and sensitivity of a telemetric capsule to monitor gastrointestinal hydrogen production in-vivo in healthy subjects: a pilot trial comparison to concurrent breath analysis," Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 2018; 48: 646–654.
K. Kalantar-zadeh, K. J. Berean, N. Ha, A. F. Chrimes, K. Xu, D. Grando, J. Z. Ou, N. Pillai, J. L. Campbell, R. Brkljača, K. M. Taylor, R. E. Burgell, C. K. Yao, S. A. Ward, C. S. McSweeney, J. G. Muir, and P. R. Gibson, "A human pilot trial of ingestible electronic capsules capable of sensing different gases in the gut," Nature Electronics, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 79-87, 2018/01/01 2018.
K. Kalantar-zadeh, N. Ha, J. Z. Ou, and K. J. Berean, "Ingestible Sensors," ACS Sensors, Review vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 468-483, 2017.
J. Z. Ou, J. J. Cottrell, N. Ha, N. Pillai, C. K. Yao, K. J. Berean, S. A. Ward, D. Grando, J. G. Muir, C. J. Harrison, U. Wijesiriwardana, F. R. Dunshea, P. R. Gibson, and K. Kalantar-zadeh, "Potential of in vivo real-time gastric gas profiling: A pilot evaluation of heat-stress and modulating dietary cinnamon effect in an animal model," Scientific Reports, Article vol. 6, 2016, Art. no. 33387.
K. Kalantar-zadeh, C. K. Yao, K. J. Berean, N. Ha, J. Z. Ou, S. A. Ward, N. Pillai, J. Hill, J. J. Cottrell, F. R. Dunshea, C. McSweeney, J. G. Muir, and P. R. Gibson, "Intestinal Gas Capsules: A Proof-of-Concept Demonstration," Gastroenterology, Article vol. 150, no. 1, pp. 37-39, 2016.
J. Z. Ou, C. K. Yao, A. Rotbart, J. G. Muir, P. R. Gibson, and K. Kalantar-zadeh, "Human intestinal gas measurement systems: in vitro fermentation and gas capsules," Trends in Biotechnology, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 208-213, 2015/04/01/ 2015.
K. J. Berean, E. M. Adetutu, J. Z. Ou, M. Nour, E. P. Nguyen, D. Paull, J. McLeod, R. Ramanathan, V. Bansal, K. Latham, G. J. Bishop-Hurley, C. McSweeney, A. S. Ball, and K. Kalantar-zadeh, "A unique in vivo approach for investigating antimicrobial materials utilizing fistulated animals," Scientific Reports, Article vol. 5, 2015, Art. no. 11515.
CEO and Co-Founder
Chair of the Board & Non-Executive Director
Non-Executive Director
Non-Executive Director
VP Technology and Co-Founder
VP Operations and Co-Founder
Head of Commercial
Chief Financial Officer
Principal Engineer and Co-Founder
Quality and Regulatory Affairs Manager
Lead Scientific Advisor
Monash University, The Alfred
University of Michigan
Augusta University
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
University of California
