The Thermopile Project is dedicated to developing low-cost and sustainable sanitation systems based on non-water waste transport and treatment by means of thermophilic composting methods capable of destroying pathogenic bacteria. The urgent need for public sanitation, energy and water conservation is increasingly evident under the pressure of climate change, diminishing resources and increasing populations.

Central to the development of the Thermopile system is the Phylochip: a microarray developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that offers a new and powerful tool for the analysis of complex microbial communities, for public health, environmental and agricultural purposes.