Project Grant R01AI183416
- This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology funds research at Middle Tennessee State University to study the impact of a fungal pathogen on the skin microbiomes of reptiles and the implications for biodiversity conservation. The $835,678 award, spanning August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2028, will test hypotheses on how the fungal pathogen Ophidiomyces ophidiicola disrupts the structure and function of reptile skin microbiomes across...
- This Project Grant award, titled "Skin Microbes and Development of Allergic Disease," is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855). The $5,176,858 award will support research at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to investigate how colonization by specific strains of Streptococcus bacteria that can damage the skin barrier may increase the risk of developing allergic...
- This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) under the Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.846) provides $465,291 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to conduct research on the determinants of colonization for commensal skin bacteria. The research aims to define the rules governing on-person bacterial evolution, ecology, and colonization, with the long-term goal of informing the...
- This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research (CFDA 93.855) program provides $299,435 to support Halomine Inc., doing business as Avantguard, in developing a novel antifungal treatment based on stabilized chloramine technology. The key objectives are to: Test the minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations (MIC/MBC) of the chloramine compound against a larger set of fungal strains that...
- This $945,365 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) supports research on how habitat disruptions and fragmentation influence the skin microbiomes of amphibians and their ability to resist fungal infections. The primary objectives are to: 1) experimentally test the "adaptive microbiome principle" by exposing amphibians to varying microbial environments and fungal pathogens in controlled lab conditions, and 2)...
- This $314,000 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), will support research to gain insights into the evolution of fungal resistance in the oral environment of HIV-positive individuals. The research will leverage an existing patient dataset to: 1) use long-read sequencing to profile the fungal mycobiome in patient saliva and caries samples, and 2) perform longitudinal...
- This Project Grant award of $636,193 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (CFDA 93.855 Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research) supports research by The Johns Hopkins University to investigate the interactions between the gut microbiome and malaria pathogenesis and antimalarial pharmacokinetics in humans. The project aims to leverage metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and nonlinear mixed effects modeling to characterize the gut microbiome's structure, function, and...
- This Project Grant award of $192,500.00 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (CFDA 93.855 - Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research) will support research to determine how prior diverse microbial experiences influence the course of tuberculosis (TB) infection. The project will leverage a novel "dirty" mouse model that exposes specific pathogen-free (SPF) mice to a diverse microbiome to shape the immune response, and compare outcomes to traditional SPF mice....
- This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), provides $857,215 to HMH Hospitals Corporation (doing business as Hackensack University Medical Center) to conduct research on how the fungal pathogen Candida albicans adapts to different host environments, such as the oral and systemic infection niches. The research aims to decipher how the fungal acetylome, regulated by the...
- This Project Grant award of $121,752 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) supports research into enhancing the efficacy of echinocandin antifungal drugs for treating invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). The project aims to investigate the role of the Septation Initiation Network (SIN) kinase cascade, particularly the terminal kinase SIDB, in regulating septation and echinocandin...
THE SKIN MICROBIOME AND FUNGAL INFECTIONS OF INDIGENOUS MALAYSIANS - ABSTRACT THE ORANG ASLI ARE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF PENINSULAR MALAYSIA, STILL LEADING SEMI-NOMADIC LIFESTYLES, WITH A HIGH PREVALENCE OF THE SKIN DISEASE TINEA IMBRICATA WHICH IS CAUSED BY TRICHOPHYTON CONCENTRICUM FUNGAL INFECTIONS. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SKIN FUNGAL INFECTIONS AND THE SKIN MICROBIOME IS POORLY UNDERSTOOD, PARTICULARLY IN THESE INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS THAT REPRESENT UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES. INVESTIGATING THIS RELATIONSHIP IN THE ORANG ASLI HAS THE POTENTIAL TO UNCOVER NOVEL INTERACTIONS BETWEEN HOSTS AND MICROBES, ELUCIDATE INFECTION MECHANISMS, AND IDENTIFY THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS, AS WELL AS CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS GLOBAL DATABASES OF THE SKIN MICROBIOME. UNDERSTANDING THIS UNIQUE FUNGAL PATHOGEN AND THE DISEASE THAT IT CAUSES MAY REVEAL NOVEL HOST-FUNGAL INTERACTIONS THAT HAVE BROADER IMPLICATIONS TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF SKIN EPITHELIAL CELL BIOLOGY, FUNGAL IMMUNE RESPONSES, AND FUNGAL METABOLIC PATHWAYS THAT AFFECT THEIR HOST. OUR PRELIMINARY EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDY ON 361 ORANG ASLI PARTICIPANTS CHARACTERIZED THE VILLAGE-SPECIFIC PREVALENCE OF TINEA IMBRICATA AND ENABLED THE COLLECTION OF SKIN SAMPLES FOR TRICHOPHYTON CULTURING AND MICROBIOME ANALYSES. OUR PRELIMINARY METAGENOMIC SEQUENCING DATA ON THE SKIN MICROBIOME DEMONSTRATED THE PRESENCE OF KNOWN COMMENSAL BACTERIA, SUCH AS STAPHYLOCOCCUS, CUTIBACTERIUM, AND CORYNEBACTERIUM, PROVIDING CONFIDENCE IN OUR WORKFLOW. ADDITIONALLY, MORE THAN HALF OF THE MICROBIAL TAXA IN THE ORANG ASLI SAMPLES ARE UNCHARACTERIZED, INDICATING THE PROBABLE ELUCIDATION OF NOVEL MICROBES CAPABLE OF COLONIZING HUMAN SKIN. THEREFORE, WE AIM TO CONDUCT (IN AIM 1) A LARGER-SCALE STUDY TO DETERMINE THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF TINEA IMBRICATA IN A STUDY ENCOMPASSING MULTIPLE VILLAGES OF THE ORANG ASLI COMMUNITY WITH DIVERSE LIFESTYLES AND INFRASTRUCTURE. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT T. CONCENTRICUM INFECTION IS ASSOCIATED WITH SPECIFIC SKIN MICROBIOME FEATURES, AND THAT THE SKIN MICROBIOME OF THE ORANG ASLI WILL BE HIGHLY DISTINCT FROM ANALYSES CONDUCTED IN DEVELOPED URBAN SOCIETIES. BY UTILIZING SKIN MICROBIOME SEQUENCING (IN AIM 2) AND FUNGAL ISOLATE WHOLE-GENOME SEQUENCING (WGS) APPROACHES (IN AIM 3), WE WILL EXAMINE THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE SKIN MICROBIOME AND FUNGAL INFECTIONS, AS WELL AS TO MODEL TINEA IMBRICATA DISEASE PROGRESSION. THIS STUDY IS BUILT UPON COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN THE PI, DR. YVONNE LIM (UNIVERSITI MALAYA) WITH NIH INTRAMURAL INVESTIGATORS, DR. P'NG LOKE (NIH/NIAID), DR. JULIE SEGRE (NIH/NHGRI), AND DR. HEIDI KONG (NIH/NIAMS), WITH EXPERTISE IN THE HOST-MICROBE INTERACTIONS, SKIN MICROBIOME, FUNGAL TRANSMISSION, AND FIELD STUDIES.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $124.9k | 5/2/25 | ||
| Not listed | $124.9k | 4/22/24 | ||
| Not listed | $124.9k | 4/22/24 |