SIMBA GI Health Data Platform 
Use Cases

The small intestine (SI) microbiome is increasingly implicated in both functional gastrointestinal (GI)
disorders and a wide range of systemic diseases. However, owing to limitations of traditional GI sampling
approaches, the SI remains challenging to directly access on a large scale.

Nimble Science addresses this gap with the SIMBA Capsule, an advanced capsule sampling technology
that collects endoscopic quality intestinal liquid biopsies directly from the small intestine.​

Bile acids are considered one of the most important metabolites produced by the gut microbiome. The ability to detect bile acids at a primary site of their release and activity, the small intestine, is limited by lack of easy access to small intestine sampling technology that can passively and directly collect samples to detect and analyze bile acids from
a wide range of study cohorts.

Nimble Science addresses this limitation with the SIMBA Capsule, an advanced capsule sampling technology that collects endoscopic quality intestinal liquid biopsies from the small intestine, the primary site where bile acids are released and act in digestion, absorption, immune and metabolic functions, as well as interact with the small intestine microbiome.

Analysis of the small intestine microenvironment and the presence of amino acids at homeostasis or under certain interventions, either food, drug or supplement, is constrained by the inability of researchers to efficiently obtain samples from the small intestine.

Nimble Science’s SIMBATM Capsule can be used to collect endoscopic quality luminal biopsies from the small intestine, a primary site for nutrient digestion and absorption, and detect free amino acid composition in this region.

The kinetics of food digestion and drug absorption are primarily governed within the small intestine, yet region-specific, time-resolved data remain difficult to obtain. Conventional methods are limited, as stool samples do not reflect small intestinal events and endoscopy is invasive and impractical for longitudinal or large-scale studies. Consequently, pharmacokinetic and bioavailability assessments often rely on indirect systemic measurements. 
Nimble Science addresses this gap with the SIMBA™ Capsule, an ingestible technology that enables endoscopic-quality liquid biopsies directly from the small intestine. By capturing luminal content across defined post-intervention timepoints, it supports time-resolved, multi-omic profiling of digestion and absorption, enabling improved characterization of pharmacokinetics and nutrient bioavailability.

Oral fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is increasingly used to restore microbial balance following antibiotic conditioning, yet its mechanisms of engraftment and regional microbiome reconstitution remain poorly understood. Conventional assessments rely on stool or clinical outcomes, which fail to capture site-specific dynamics within the small intestine, a critical region for host–microbe interactions.

Nimble Science addresses this gap with the SIMBA™ Capsule, enabling direct, site-specific sampling of the small intestine pre- and post-FMT. This approach supports high-resolution characterization of microbial depletion and engraftment dynamics, enabling improved evaluation and optimization of microbiome-targeted interventions.

The ability to assess the effectiveness of various interventions, either drug, food or supplement to modulate the gut microbiome is limited by a lack of easy access to data from the small intestine.

Nimble Science addresses this gap with the SIMBA Capsule, an advanced capsule sampling technology
that collects endoscopic quality intestinal liquid biopsies from the small intestine, a primary site for disease associated etiology, digestion, absorption, and immune functions.

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are products of bacterial fermentation in the gut and have been established to play a key role in both health and disease states. The current understanding of the role of SCFAs is largely limited to readily accessible stool samples, leaving a gap in the knowledge of the role and composition of SCFAs in other regions of the
gastrointestinal tract. Nimble Science addresses this gap with the SIMBA Capsule, an advanced capsule sampling technology that passively and directly collects endoscopic quality intestinal liquid biopsies from the small intestine.

Focusing on fecal samples for shotgun metagenomic sequencing disregards the importance of the small intestine and the distinct microbiome population in this influential regions of the gastrointestinal tract, with major roles in nutrient digestion, absorption, drug metabolism and immune system activity.

The SIMBA Capsule collects endoscopic quality intestinal liquid biopsies from the small intestine. DNA collected from the SIMBA Capsule has been validated for characterization of different bacteria, virus, fungi, archaea and protist populations in this region, allowing for the microbiome research community to integrate small intestine microbiome data to compliment traditional fecal microbiome profiling.

Antibiotics are widely used in clinical practice, yet their localized effects within the small intestine remain poorly characterized. Conventional approaches rely on fecal sampling, which lacks the spatial and temporal resolution to capture immediate, site-specific microbial shifts at the primary site of drug action.

Nimble Science addresses this gap with the SIMBA™ Capsule, enabling direct sampling of small intestinal luminal fluid. This approach provides site-specific insights into antibiotic effects, enabling more informed dosing strategies and targeted therapeutic development.