At a Consortium-hosted lecture today, pediatrician Stacy Kahn (University of Chicago) spoke about the challenges of helping patients make the right decisions about Fecal Microbiome Transplantation (FMT). The therapy, while proven effective in the treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile infections, has not yet been definitively shown to cure inflammatory bowel diseases. Dr. Kahn described parents, desperate to help a sick child, who are persuaded by information they find on the Internet to try do-it-yourself FMT, despite the risks and lack of data. She was joined by Byron Vaughn, MD, and Alexander Khoruts, MD, of the University of Minnesota's Microbiota Therapeutics Program, for a lively discussion about the reasons FMT may not be as promising for other conditions as it is for treating C. difficile. Dr. Khoruts recently co-authored, with Michael Sadowsky, PhD (University of Minnesota), a Nature Microbiology editorial cautioning about the use of FMT in clinical or domestic settings that may not allow for the proper administration of the therapy. The final lecture in the microbiome series, Microbiota-targeted Therapies from Probiotics to Transplants: New Regulatory Challenges, will be presented by Diane E. Hoffman, JD, MS – registrations are currently being accepted.