MODEL RELEASED. Artificial gut. Researcher inoculating an artificial gut used to model the human intestines. He is adding a bacterial suspension isolated from human stool samples. The model allows the health effects of bacteria living in the real gut to be assessed. Certain bacteria found in the intestines are thought to cause or protect against diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis and bowel cancer. The system can also be used to test the effects of prebiotics, nutrients that are eaten to encourage the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria. The artificial gut was built at Reading University, England, by a team led by Professor Glenn Gibson.