This National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) Project Grant award of $240,000 provides funding for a postdoctoral fellowship focused on leveraging metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and gnotobiotic models to facilitate protective microbiomes sourced from natural communities. The primary objectives are to explore the mechanisms that skin microbes use to limit fungal growth and pilot the use of skin probiotics to combat deadly fungal skin infections causing worldwide amphibian declines. The research will characterize the functional response of natural skin microbiomes to chytrid fungal pathogens and test methods of "antifungal probiotic" application in a captive setting. The project aims to develop new resources and tools to combat amphibian declines, as well as an educational booklet about frog skin microbiomes.
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