Hardware Podcasts

522: The Information Is In Poop

Embedded.fm · 6 Mar 2026 · 54m · Episode 522

What this episode covers

Dr. Sonia Grego, founder and CEO of Coprata and lead of Duke University's Smart Toilet Lab, discusses the engineering challenges of monitoring gut health through human waste. She explains how Coprata’s Microbiome Activity Tracker (MAT) kit uses colorimetric analysis via smartphone to assess gut health, while detailing the complex robotics required for their smart toilet prototype to isolate and analyze specimens. Grego also shares lessons from field-testing non-sewered sanitation systems in India and South Africa, highlighting the gap between academic prototypes and real-world deployment.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Coprata, Duke University, Smart Toilet Lab, Gates Foundation, Mount Sinai
Products
Microbiome Activity Tracker, Athena
Also
Bristol stool scale

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