About MEBO Research

Background

MeBO Research, a non-profit organization aspiring to become a charity, was founded by a sufferer, Maria de la Torre, who lives in Miami, Florida, with the help of others from around the globe, to proactively search for the discovery of diagnosis, treatment, and cure for the possible systemic body odor and halitosis conditions.  It is the strong opinion of the founders that the alternative is to maintain the status quo, i.e., to wait for the scientific / medical system to come up with significant funding and research for us on its own initiative, which is a very unrealistic possibility.

In order to achieve this, this non-profit organization's primary strategy is to unite sufferers and experts through multiple projects, including community forums, MeBO's two blogs, and this website in order to compile data of the symptoms manifested in these conditions initially through small informal case studies, while pursuing benefaction for large-scale scientific research and clinical trials.  It is MeBO's intentions to complement similar campaigns initiated by others around the world also aimed at solving the spectrum of metabolic odors. MeBO will keep readers and donators updated on all its actions. The amount of money raised, intentions, and spending of the funds will always be transparent and published on this company website. MeBO aspires to become an international charity.

Strategy:

• Informal case studies : To use part of the funds raised in a proactive research manner, such as to fund small informal case studies if financially viable, to look for patterns in the results, and to explore possible treatment options.
• All informal case study results: will be quickly published as they are received while upholding the privacy of the individuals tested. 
  
• Transparency : All moneys received, fund balances, planned and actual spending will be disclosed on this website.

• To encourage research amongst the scientific and medical systems.
  
• The body odor and halitosis community will be closely coordinated.
  
• One ultimate goal of MeBO Research is the founding of a Body Odor and Halitosis Research Center and Clinic. 
• Raise awareness: To promote social awareness of body odor conditions as well as the special needs and accommodations needed to promote a healthy and productive work or school environment for everyone involved. This could be carried out in a number of ways, including promoting political awareness.

About informal case studies:
This is the main plan of action of the 'self help' strategy. Most of the information on this strategy can be found on the 'testing' page. In summary, the idea is to see if any patterns can quickly be identified, since metabolic odor problems are so neglected by the medical system. Although trimethylaminuria is now accepted by the medical system in medical literature, 99.9% of doctors may be unaware of it; and to make things more confusing, TMAU sufferers often are not confident 'fish body odor' is their only issue (if at all).

Encouraging government and private funding for research:
This is the main objective of the 'professional help' strategy. To encourage 'official' professional research by the scientific and medical systems. The funding for this is hoped to be acquired from government agencies and private foundations or companies. There may be some overlapping with this strategy and the 'self-help' strategy. 

Raising social awareness and international recognition:
The purpose is to raise awareness of systemic body odors amongst the scientific/medical, public, and political spheres. This may take many aspects including political lobbying and media exposure as well as other means.

Spending:
At the moment, all work done for MeBO is by volunteers for free. If these circumstances should change, MeBO would clearly notify of such changes well in advance on the website. Initially all spending will go towards the strategies above-mentioned (probably 'self-help and 'raising awareness' initially), and to the minimal upkeep of MeBO Research. Readers will have good information as to how much has been raised and how it is being spent.    

Outlook:
Initially, money raised is expected to be at the lower end of the scale and almost all from sufferers. The hope is to become a self-prophesying organisation, realizing the aims as confidence grows.