A microbiome study is only as interpretable as its metadata. Antibiotics, diet, stool form, symptoms and exact sample timing all change the sequencing result. Capture records them next to the clinical outcome in one study with one audit trail. Test it free, no credit card.
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Samples logged
96
Metadata complete
91%
What a microbiome study needs from its data capture
The study data
Microbiome studies run from observational cohorts to randomised trials of probiotics, prebiotics, diets, fecal microbiota transplantation and live biotherapeutic products. Their outcomes mix a laboratory readout, such as taxonomic composition from 16S or shotgun sequencing, with clinical outcomes such as symptom scores, stool frequency or disease activity. The analysis then asks whether the community changed, and whether the change tracks the clinical result. Neither question can be answered without careful metadata. Published work shows how much is at stake: observational studies record current and previous antibiotic use for a year or more before sampling, adjust for demographics and other exposures, and trial protocols track stool frequency and form through participant diaries alongside 16S profiling.
The failure mode is missing or late metadata. Antibiotic history is hard to reconstruct afterwards, and one study that profiled stool chemistry found medicines that the records had never listed. A diet questionnaire done a month after sampling describes a different diet. In Capture, each of these is a structured form with required fields, a window around the sample date and edit checks that raise an automatic query when a value is missing or out of range. The audit trail records who entered what, the old value, the new value and the reason for any change, which matters when metadata is corrected after the first look at the sequence data.
Microbiome studies also tend to be small to medium, often run by biotech startups, academic groups or nutrition teams without a large data management group. The self-serve build, where you can upload a protocol and let the AI study builder draft visits and forms for you to review, suits that setting; see clinical trial software for nutrition research and clinical trial software for biotech founders.
Capture is an electronic data capture system, not a laboratory information system. Record the sample identifier, collection date and time, who collected it, whether it was participant or staff collected, the kit used, any deviation from the instructions and the storage step you want documented, as fields on a visit form with a repeating row for each sample. Sequencing, freezer inventory and bioinformatics stay in your lab systems; the shared key is the sample identifier. Exports are available as CSV and Excel with an automatic data dictionary, and as CDISC SDTM datasets in SAS XPT format with Define-XML where your submission needs them; see CDISC SDTM export and exporting EDC data to R, SAS and SPSS.
Sample
Sample ID
SAMPIDCollected by
COLBYCollection date and time
COLDTCAntibiotics in the past 30 days
ABXYes: record drug, start and stop dates
Stool form
STOOLFORMProtocol to build
| Protocol element | What the data looks like | Where it lives in Capture |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility and exclusions | Recent antibiotics, GI disease, diet restrictions | Eligibility screening template with skip logic |
| Antibiotics and medicines | Drug, start and stop dates, indication | Concomitant medications template |
| Sample collection | ID, date and time, collector, deviations | Repeating-row visit form; sample ID is the key for the lab |
| Stool form | Seven-category type per stool | Bristol stool scale template |
| Diet | Recall or frequency questionnaire | 24-hour recall form, food frequency form |
| Symptoms | GI symptom ratings between visits | GI symptoms diary on the phone |
| Product use | Doses taken, doses returned | Medication adherence and pill count |
| Adverse events | Onset, severity, seriousness, relationship | Adverse event form |
Scale and questionnaire wording is yours to supply. Licensed instruments stay with your study documents; Capture does not supply or verify instrument licences.
Describe the form or upload the protocol, let the AI draft it for you to review, and enter sample data. Free sandbox, no credit card.
Design variants
Probiotic and dietary supplement trials emphasise adherence and product accountability alongside the sample. Tablets or sachets taken, doses returned and any deviation from the dosing instructions are recorded on a form, and the nutraceutical trials and supplement trials pages cover the pattern. For investigational products, the IMP inventory and drug accountability page describes how dispensing and returns are tracked.
Gastrointestinal disease programmes link the microbiome to a clinical endpoint. EDC for IBS clinical trials and EDC for gastroenterology and IBD trials describe the symptom diaries and scores that sit beside stool samples. In those designs the sample is one data stream among several, and keeping it in the same study as the symptom score avoids a spreadsheet merge at the end.
Where samples or data may be reused beyond the original study, consent matters. eConsent templates for biobank and repository and genomic research show the structure for broader use; the wording must be approved by your ethics committee. Because Capture supports a participant signature with email one-time code and investigator countersignature, with each signature linked to the exact document, the consent record travels with the study data. Roles and PII segregation mean the lab sees coded IDs and sample numbers, not participant names; see the product page for eConsent.
Build sequence
A practical order of work for a biotech or academic team.
Decide which exposures you must record and the look-back period for each, such as antibiotics and probiotics.
Upload the protocol (PDF, DOCX or DOC) and let the AI study builder propose visits and forms. Nothing is saved until a person reviews it.
Sample ID, collection date and time, collector, kit, deviations and storage step, with required fields and edit checks.
Stool, diet and symptom diaries on the participant phone, with reminders and a completion window.
Export sample metadata keyed on sample ID and open it with the bioinformatics team.
Approved forms lock for live use. Real participants start the paid live phase.
Before first participant
One identifier format shared by the EDC, kit labels and the lab.
How close to sampling diet and symptom data must be collected.
Exclusion window and how exposure after enrolment is recorded.
Sample reuse, sharing and storage wording reviewed by the ethics committee.
CSV or Excel with the data dictionary opened by the analysts.
No. Capture is an electronic data capture system for clinical and sample metadata. Sequencing files and bioinformatics stay in your lab systems, linked by the sample identifier.
Yes. A phone task or home-collected sample form can record date, time and deviations, with reminders and a completion window.
Yes. Use a concomitant medications form with start and stop dates and indication, plus conditional questions that ask for detail only when the answer is yes.
CSV and Excel with an automatic data dictionary, and CDISC SDTM datasets as SAS XPT files with Define-XML.
Yes. Capture includes randomisation, blinded roles, adherence capture and adverse event reporting, and is suitable for Phase 1, 2 and 3 studies.
The sandbox is free with every feature, no credit card and no time limit. You pay only once you go live with real participants. Pricing is not published on the site, so ask for terms for your study via the demo page or the pricing page.
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Free sandbox with every feature. No credit card, and you pay only when you go live.