The generalized homology theory of the Thom spectrum $MO=\varinjlim\Sigma^nMTO\_n$ is bordism theory:\begin{equation\*}\pi\_k(MO\wedge X)=\Omega^O\_k(X)\end{equation\*}These groups form the ring of (unoriented) $X$-cobordism classes of (unoriented) manifolds.


But what information do the Madsen-Tillmann spectra $MTO\_n$ contain? Does the homotopy ring\begin{equation\*}\pi\_k(MTO\_n\wedge X)=\text{ ?}\end{equation\*}yield any useful classification of manifolds?



Homology theory represented by Madsen-Tillmann spectra
This is an exercise in understanding the Pontrjagin--Thom correspondence. The group $\pi\_k(MTO(n) \wedge X\_+)$ is in bijection with tuples of 


1. a $(n+k)$-manifold $M$,
2. an $n$-dimensional vector bundle $V \to M$,
3. a stable isomorphism $\varphi: V \oplus \epsilon^k \oplus \epsilon^\ell \cong TM \oplus \epsilon^\ell$ for $\ell \gg 0$, and
4. a continuous map $f : M \to X$.


This data is taken up to cobordism in the obvious way. Note that the spectrum $MTO(n)$ is not connective, which corresponds to the fact that the above makes sense for negative $k$.


On the other hand, for a $d$-dimensional manifold $X$ the cohomology theory $[X,MTO(n)]$ is represented by tuples of


1. a $(d+n)$-dimensional manifold $E$ with a proper map $\pi : E \to X$,
2. an $n$-dimensional vector bundle $V \to E$,
3. a stable isomorphism $\varphi : TE \oplus \epsilon^\ell \cong V \oplus \pi^\*(TX) \oplus \epsilon^\ell$,


again taken up to cobordism in the obvious way.


The point that user43326 is referring to is that if $\pi : E^{d+n} \to X^d$ is a smooth fibre bundle with compact $n$-dimensional fibres, then we may define $V := T\_\pi E = \mathrm{Ker}(D\pi : TE \to TX)$ to be the vertical tangent bundle and choose a splitting of the short exact sequence 
$$0 \to T\_\pi E \to TE \to \pi^\*(TX) \to 0$$
of vector bundles on $E$. This gives an isomorphism $\varphi : TE \cong V \oplus \pi^\*(TX)$, and so the tuple $(\pi: E \to X, V, \varphi)$ represents a class in $[X, MTO(n)]$. (However, despite what user43326 said, it is not true that all classes in this cohomology theory arise in this way.)


The reason that
$$\mathrm{hocolim}\_{n \to \infty} \Sigma^n MTO(n) \simeq MO$$
can be easily seen from the first description above. Concretely, a class in $\pi\_k$ of the homotopy colimit is represented by a tuple


1. a $k$-manifold $M$,
2. an $n$-dimensional vector bundle $V \to M$ for some $n \gg0$,
3. a stable isomorphism $\varphi : V \oplus \epsilon^\ell \cong TM \oplus \epsilon^{n-k} \oplus \epsilon^\ell$, for $\ell \gg0$,


taken up to cobordism. By taking $n$ large enough, and destabilising the isomorphism, we get $\varphi: V \cong TM \oplus \epsilon^{n-k}$, and so the last two pieces of data cancel out: we are left with just $k$-manifolds up to cobordism.


