Around noon on a recent Friday, Donor Five, a healthy 31-year-old, walked across M.I.T.'s frigid, wind-swept campus to a third-floor restroom to make a contribution to public health. Less than two hours later, a technician blended the donor's stool into preparations that looked like chocolate milk. The material was separated and stored in freezers at an M.I.T. microbiology lab, awaiting shipment to hospitals around the country. Each container was carefully labeled: Fecal Microbiota Preparation. Nearly a year ago, Mark Smith, a 27-year-old doctoral candidate, and three colleagues launched OpenBiome, the nation's first human stool bank.
