Our Research

The Juno Study

We ran The Juno Study. Over 1000 women across the US registered to be part of the biggest IRB approved study of its kind to power up women’s health research with the richest, most representative repository of vaginal microbiomes. This study has already shed light on patterns that will raise the standard of care possible for women across the world.
The Juno Study was a phenomenal leap forward in unravelling the vaginal microbiome and closing the gender health research gap. We’re bringing you this same science in the Juno test and rapidly unlocking unprecedented solutions, raising the standard of care for all.

At Juno Bio, we’re working to close the gender health gap. Womxn’s health research has been sidelined for far too long and vaginal health is badly in need of a good scientific sorting out. In particular, vaginal health conditions associated with vaginal microbes - aka the vaginal microbiome - such as bacterial vaginosis and infertility, are massively under researched.

icon overlay

I’ve never heard of the vaginal microbiome.
Tell me everything

What even are microbiomes?

Microbiomes are the community of bacteria and other microbes that live in and on us. Since the completion of the first part of the Human Microbiome Project in 2015, there’s been an explosion in our understanding of the importance of these communities for our wellbeing. These microbiomes can be found in our mouths, our guts and of course, our vaginas.

So what is the vaginal microbiome?

The vaginal microbiome is the community of microbes that live in the vagina. It’s made up of bacteria and other microbes and plays a huge role in our health and wellness.

Why is decoding the vaginal microbiome so important?

The vaginal microbiome  is significantly implicated in over 30 major women’s health conditions. These include recurrent bacterial-vaginosis (a socially-debilitating condition affecting 10% of the global female population annually[1]) and preterm birth (the leading cause of death in children under 5 years of age[2]). By decoding the vaginal microbiome we can find solutions to under-addressed conditions which are currently unacceptably poorly-characterised, badly-diagnosed and inadequately-treated.  

Why am I only just hearing about the vaginal microbiome?

Good question. The vaginal microbiome and its impact on women’s lives is only just being unravelled. This is partly because the enabling technologies that allow us to do this type of research have only recently come into existence to and well mostly because womxn’s health has always taken a back seat.

How do I know what’s in my vaginal microbiome?

We tell you. From a simple vaginal swab that you take - think cotton bud, we can tell you exactly what your vaginal microbiome contains. We process the vaginal swab in our labs by extracting all the microbial DNA - that’s just the genetic makeup of the bacteria - and figure out exactly which microbes they belong to, what they’re known to do and what that means for you.The hard bit is what we’re good at - using bioinformatics and machine learning to give you the deepest insights you can get about just what’s down there. We then send you a report with simple explanations so that you know exactly where you stand.

Why should I care about my vaginal microbiome?

Proactive management of vaginal wellness is paramount to avoiding downstream complications. Knowing what you’re working with is the first step.

We think it’s ridiculous that millions of women around the world are experiencing problems due to a disrupted vaginal microbiome. Juno Bio is working to help women take control of their vaginal microbiome wellness.

Try the Juno Bio test

References

1. “Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)” Center for Disease Control, https://www.cdc.gov/std/tg2015/pid, Accessed 2020-6-4
2. “Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)” Mayo Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pelvic-inflammatory-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20352594, Accessed 2020-6-4
3. “Overview: Pelvic Inflammatory Disease” National Health Service, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pelvic-inflammatory-disease-pid/, Accessed 2020-6-4
4. Haggerty C, et al. The Presence and Concentrations of Select Bacterial Vaginosis-Associated Bacteria Are Associated With Increased Risk of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease. Sexually Transmitted Diseases: (2020) - Volume 47 10.1097/OLQ.0000000000001164