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Article History

Received: 1 July 2025

Accepted: 5 January 2026

First Online: 14 January 2026

Competing interests

: S.C.N. has served as an advisory board member for Pfizer, Ferring, Janssen and Abbvie and received honoraria as a speaker for Ferring, Tillotts, Menarini, Janssen, Abbvie and Takeda; has received research grants through her affiliated institutions from Olympus, Ferring and Abbvie; is a founder member, non-executive director, non-executive scientific advisor and shareholder of GenieBiome Ltd which is non-remunerative; is a shareholder of MicroSigX Diagnostic Holding Limited; is a founder member, non-executive Board Director, and non-executive scientific advisor of MicroSigX Biotech Diagnostic Limited, which is non-remunerative; and receives patent royalties through her affiliated institutions. F.K.L.C. serves as the Principal Investigator for the Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Service under the Hospital Authority (HA). He is a Board Director of EHealth Plus Digital Technology Ltd., an HA-owned subsidiary driving the eHealth+ program to transform the Electronic Health Record Sharing System into a comprehensive digital healthcare platform and advance other IT initiatives within the eHealth ecosystem. Additionally, he is a Board Director of CUHK Medical Services Limited. F.K.L.C. is a shareholder of GenieBiome Holdings Limited and the co-founder, non-executive Board Chairman, and non-executive Scientific Advisor of its wholly owned subsidiary, GenieBiome Ltd. Similarly, he is a shareholder of MicroSigX Diagnostic Holding Limited and the co-founder, non-executive Board Chairman, and non-executive Scientific Advisor of its wholly owned subsidiary, MicroSigX Biotech Diagnostic Limited. He also serves as a Director of the Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited and a member of the Steering Committee for the RAISe+ Scheme under the Innovation and Technology Commission. Furthermore, he is the Co-Director of the Microbiota I-Center (MagIC) Ltd. FKLC receives advisory fees and speaker honoraria from AstraZeneca and Comvita New Zealand Limited, as well as patent royalties through affiliated institutions for microbiome-related applications. F.K.L.C., S.C.N., and H.M.T. are named inventors of patent applications held by the CUHK and MagIC that cover the therapeutic and diagnostic use of the microbiome. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.