PRECISE Expands Microbiome–Mental Health Research Internationally with UW–Madison

In December 2025, PRECISE extended the GLOW (Gut Linked Outcomes in Wellbeing) programme beyond Asia through a new international collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). The partnership marks a significant step in PRECISE's efforts to advance global precision medicine and mental health research.

Together with researchers at UW-Madison’s Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and Centre for Healthy Minds, PRECISE will complement its Singapore cohort with an additional 1,500 participants recruited from the U.S. This cross-population study will analyse gut microbial composition and human genomic data to identify biological links between the gut microbiome and mental health, of which the latter constitutes a leading cause of disability worldwide.

The collaboration also opens a novel line of inquiry into the gut-brain axis: how mindfulness and meditation influence the microbiome, drawing on data from wearable devices and digital health tools alongside biological sampling. These findings will be analysed alongside the Singapore cohort data, strengthening the cross-population dimension of the study and enabling researchers to identify both shared and population-specific links between the gut microbiome and mental health.

By bringing together world-class expertise in genomics, data science, clinical psychology and behavioural health, this international partnership reflects PRECISE's commitment to advancing precision medicine in Singapore and globally, through interdisciplinary research into depression and the microbiome across diverse populations.