Our gut microbiome helps us out every day by processing the fiber we can’t digest. The bacteria ferment the fiber into key chemicals known as short-chain fatty acids, or SCFAs, that are essential for human health.

Sepsis, the body’s overreaction to an infection, affects more than 1.5 million people and kills at least 270,000 every year in the U.S. alone. The standard treatment of antibiotics and fluids is not effective for many patients, and those who survive face a higher risk of death.