Seed Health and The Two Frontiers Project Launch Initiative to Explore Microbial Solutions to "Forever Chemicals"
The new project invites the public to submit soil samples from chemically impacted land to investigate how soil microbes evolve to break down or transform chemical contaminants
As synthetic pollutants like PFAS accumulate across ecosystems with no clear path to removal — impacting food production, water quality, and ecosystem health — these insights could inform new biological methods for remediation
LOS ANGELES, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Seed Health and The Two Frontiers Project (2FP) today launched The Resilient Soils Project, a community science initiative investigating how microbial life adapts to chemically impacted environments. As "forever chemicals" like PFAS accumulate in soil, water, and living systems with no clear path to removal, the project explores whether nature has already begun to develop its own responses—and what those adaptations might teach us about new approaches to remediation. Led by 2FP and supported by SeedLabs, Seed Health's environmental research division, the initiative extends the partners' shared mission to advance microbial research for environmental health.
In less than a century, humans have introduced more than 350,000 synthetic chemicals into the environment, reshaping ecosystems at a pace that pushes the limits of biological adaptation. Across the United States, these substances have transformed vast areas into what scientists call chemically impacted landscapes—environments shaped by decades of exposure to PFAS, heavy metals, petroleum, and agricultural chemicals. This prolonged exposure is shifting how these systems function, affecting the resilience of soils that underpin food production, water quality, and broader ecosystem health.
"Most approaches to contamination rely on removal, containment, or chemical treatment—methods that can be costly, disruptive, and difficult to scale," said Krista Ryon, genomics researcher and Co-Founder of 2FP. "Microbes may offer hope. Under sustained chemical pressure, soil microbes can evolve metabolic pathways capable of transforming or breaking down contaminants—pointing to new ways of working with living systems to restore environments shaped by human activity."
The Resilient Soils Project invites individuals and communities to collect soil samples from known or suspected contamination sites, from residential areas and farmland to regions shaped by legacy industrial activity. Samples will undergo metagenomic sequencing and analysis to identify microbial traits associated with long-term chemical exposure. Findings will contribute to 2FP's Living Database: an open-access archive that provides global researchers with DNA sequencing data and cultured samples from these unique environments. This distributed, community-powered model gives researchers access to environments that would otherwise be impossible to study at scale.
Seed and 2FP's previous community science initiatives have generated more than 1,000 environmental data points, uncovering microbial communities with potential applications in carbon capture and coral reef resilience. The Resilient Soils Project extends this work by leveraging public participation to expand environmental sampling and accelerate discovery in real-world conditions.
"Seed was founded on the understanding that microbes are one of the most powerful—and overlooked—forces shaping life on this planet," said Cathrin Bowtell, Chief Executive Officer of Seed Health. "Our work in human health has demonstrated just how much potential they hold. With SeedLabs, we extend that lens outward, exploring how microbial life might help address some of the most urgent challenges facing our world. The future of human and planetary health are deeply connected—and microbes sit at the center of both."
About Seed Health
Seed Health is a microbiome science company pioneering clinically validated innovations for gut and whole-body health. Rooted in rigorous research and peer-reviewed studies, the company is setting new standards for efficacy, safety, and trust in the biotics category. Its flagship innovation, DS-01® Daily Synbiotic, is a pre- and probiotic studied in multiple human clinical trials and trusted by over two million people for its systemic benefits, including gut, skin, immune, and heart health. Seed's pipeline of gut-directed innovations, developed in collaboration with world-renowned researchers and clinicians, harnesses the microbiome as a driver of longevity, systemic health, and daily well-being. Grounded in the ethos that human and planetary health are interconnected, SeedLabs, the company's environmental research division, advances microbial interventions to enhance biodiversity and help restore ecosystems impacted by human activity.
About SeedLabs
SeedLabs is the environmental research division of microbiome science company Seed Health. Founded on the notion of One Health –– that human health and environmental health are intertwined and interdependent –– SeedLabs advances emergent environmental research and microbial innovations to recover ecosystems impacted by human activity and address some of the greatest challenges presented by climate change.
Current SeedLabs projects encompass microbial innovations for honeybee preservation, coral reef regeneration, plastic waste management, and carbon sequestration.
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