Project Grant 2124863

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was awarded a $800,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct collaborative research titled "Learning How Mucus Shapes and Maintains Microbiomes" from September 1, 2021 through August 31, 2026. Under the award, MIT researchers will work to advance understanding of the role that mucus plays in shaping and maintaining microbiomes. The research is funded through the NSF's Biological Sciences program (CFDA...

This $914,479 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports fundamental research into microbiome spatial organization and community assembly. The project, initiated September 1, 2025 and extending through July 31, 2028, is being conducted at Columbia University and will deliver a defined synthetic human gut microbiome (SYNHCOM) model system and associated research tools for...

Grant Award Summary The California Institute of Technology received a $554,742 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Emerging Frontiers under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), awarded October 1, 2025, with completion targeted for January 31, 2027. This collaborative research initiative will investigate the mechanisms by which mucus—the sugar-coated gel lining wet surfaces throughout the body—shapes and maintains microbial communities. The research team...

This $502,071 National Science Foundation project grant supports research at the University of California, Merced to define metabolic complementation within the sea anemone microbiome. The research aims to advance understanding of how microbial communities cooperate to enhance the fitness, health and survival of eukaryotic hosts. Specifically, the three-year award will fund work to quantify the microbiome's impact on host fitness using gnotobiotic sea anemones, reintroduce isolated microbial...

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) awarded a $1,338,750 Project Grant to Yale University to conduct research on how gut bacteria can influence host feeding behavior and microbiome assembly using the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system. The project aims to develop tools and assays to study the molecular mechanisms by which gut microbes can manipulate host feeding decisions, with the goal of gaining insights that may apply to other host-microbe systems. Key...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $719,638 to Cornell University to conduct fundamental research on the nanomechanics of bacterial adhesion and growth on healthy and diseased human gut mucus. The research aims to determine how differences in the molecular structures of healthy and diseased gut mucus impact bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation. The project will use computational modeling and simulations to obtain...

The Regents of the University of California received a five-year, $2.4 million Project Grant from the National Science Foundation to support the research project "MIM: A Thermodynamic Theory of Microbiome Assembly, Adaptation and Evolution Evaluated Using Modular Microbial Environments" from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2026. This grant is being administered under the NSF's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), which aims to advance the fundamental biological sciences and...

This $315,657 National Science Foundation award under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) supports the development of synthetic mucin polymers that mimic natural mucus. The Research Foundation of the City University of New York will lead a collaborative effort with the University of Pennsylvania to create new biomimetic polymers through systematic study of homopolymer, random copolymer, and triblock copolymer compositions. Researchers will investigate the relationship...

This NSF Biological Sciences program award in the amount of $497,509 to the Regents of the University of Minnesota will support collaborative research on how prophages (viruses that infect bacteria) influence the structure and function of animal microbiomes. The project will utilize the invertebrate chordate Ciona robusta and the vertebrate zebrafish Danio rerio as model systems. The research will integrate genetic, predictive modeling, and experimental approaches to study the biology and...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program provides $509,573 to Trustees of Tufts College, doing business as Tufts University, for a 3-year research project titled "Collaborative Research: Mechanisms of Community Coalescence in Synthetic Microbiomes." The project aims to investigate how microbiomes, such as those found in fermented foods like sourdough and kombucha, reassemble and function when they mix, a phenomenon known as community...