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Article History

Received: 15 November 2024

Accepted: 31 July 2025

First Online: 25 August 2025

Competing interests

: F.K.L.C serves as the Principal Investigator for the Faecal 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+ programme 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. F.K.L.C 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. 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. She has received research grants through her affiliated institutions from Olympus, Ferring, and AbbVie, and is a founder member of GenieBiome Ltd, is a shareholder of GenieBiome Holdings Limited; GenieBiome Limited is wholly owned by GenieBiome Holdings Limited; is a non-executive Board director and non-executive scientific advisor of GenieBiome Ltd and its holding company which is non-remunerative; is a founder member of MicroSigX Biotech Diagnostic Limited; is a shareholder of MicroSigX Diagnostic Holdings Limited; GenieBiome Limited is wholly owned by GenieBiome Holdings Limited; is a non-executive Board director and non-executive scientific advisor of MicroSigX Biotech Diagnostic Limited and its holding company which is non-remunerative; and receives patent royalties through her affiliated institutions. F.K.L.C., S.C.N., and L.Z. 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.