New AI Tool Tracks Us Through Bacteria | Benefits of generative ai | Generative ai google tutorial | Generative ai use cases in healthcare 2020 | Turtles AI

An innovative AI tool developed at Lund University can track visited locations by analyzing the microbial signatures of bacteria on humans. The mGPS system, which uses microbiological data from different environments, represents a major breakthrough for forensic medicine and epidemiology, allowing microbiome samples to be geographically located with precision.

Key points:

• The mGPS system tracks an individual’s location through the bacteria they carry, using AI.
• Bacteria in different environments have unique characteristics that allow us to identify their geographic origin.
• mGPS has been successfully tested in various urban, marine and terrestrial environments, with high accuracy rates.
• The technology opens up new perspectives in medicine, epidemiology and forensic science, with potential future applications in criminal investigations.

A research team from Lund University in Sweden has developed an innovative AI tool that can track an individual’s recent travels, but not through GPS or other traditional navigation technologies. Instead, the Microbiome Geographic Population Structure (mGPS) system uses the unique characteristics of the bacteria that each person carries with them, linking these microorganisms to specific geographic origins. The idea behind this system is that microorganisms, invisible to the naked eye, vary greatly depending on their environment and, as a result, provide microbial “fingerprints” that can identify the provenance of a microbiome sample. The researchers analyzed microbiological data from environments as diverse as soil, marine ecosystems, and urban settings, training the AI ​​to recognize microbial signatures and pinpoint the geographic source of each sample. Using this methodology, they were able to determine the location of bacteria from areas such as beaches, train stations, forests, and cities with surprising accuracy. Bacteria collected by touching a handrail or simply walking through certain environments can therefore provide information about the exact location where someone has been, with significant applications in medicine, epidemiology and forensics.

Unlike other biological traces, such as DNA, which remain stable over time, the human microbiome is highly dynamic and constantly changes based on the environments we come into contact with. This means that the composition of our microbiome can reveal useful information about where we have recently been, even in very specific places. In fact, researchers have noticed that many environments, including urban, marine and terrestrial ones, host distinctive bacterial populations, characterized by unique combinations of microbial species. These distinctive signatures can be "deciphered" thanks to the power of artificial intelligence models that, through a learning process, associate these characteristics with specific geographic coordinates.

The tool has shown promising results in tests conducted in several global cities. In Hong Kong, for example, mGPS was able to pinpoint the underground station where microbiological samples came from with 82% accuracy, while in New York, it was 92% accurate, distinguishing between the microbiome of a kiosk and that of a handrail a few feet away. Data collected from diverse environments, such as public transit systems, soils across countries, and marine ecosystems, allowed researchers to create a large database that feeds the mGPS system, improving its reliability and effectiveness.

This technology is not only interesting from a scientific point of view, but also opens up new horizons in fields such as forensics and epidemiology. The ability to trace the geographical origin of bacteria could prove essential to monitor the spread of infectious diseases, identify sources of contagion and combat microbial resistance, a growing problem in the healthcare sector. Furthermore, the system could be used in criminal investigations to collect evidence of movements of individuals in suspicious contexts, analyzing bacteria present on surfaces such as doorknobs, handrails or objects touched.

As algorithms continue to improve and microbiological databases expand, the Lund team expects the mGPS system to become a fundamental tool in numerous fields, including the microbiological mapping of cities. An ambitious project that could not only speed up forensic investigations, but also contribute to the understanding of the interactions between humans and the environment, leading to a deeper knowledge of the organisms we share every day.

The work represents a significant step towards a new era of forensic science and public health, in which microorganisms play a central role in telling our story and our movements.