This 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 the construction of an arrayed and sequence-defined transposon mutant library for the oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans. The $838,322 award, made on September 24, 2024, with a final completion date of September 24, 2027, will enable researchers at Arkansas State University to use this library to systematically...
This Project Grant award of $1,865,330.00 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), part of the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), supports research to determine the specific molecular mechanisms by which the glucosyltransferase (GTF) enzymes of the dental caries pathogen Streptococcus mutans produce soluble and insoluble glucans. The goals are to: (1) determine the novel structures of the GTFB and GTFD enzymes, (2) elucidate their...
This federal 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 investigate functional amyloid formation in the oral bacterium Streptococcus mutans. The total funding amount is $505,530 and the award period runs from September 16, 2024 to September 15, 2025. The key research objectives include: (1) exploring the relationships between S. mutans amyloid-forming...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research (CFDA 93.121) program, provides $658,750 to the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute, Inc. to explore the physiological role of arginine phosphorylation in the dental pathogen Streptococcus mutans and identify the kinase enzyme responsible for this novel post-translational modification. The research aims to advance understanding of...
This 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 fund research to investigate how the fungus Candida albicans interacts with the bacterium Streptococcus mutans to promote the formation and virulence of cariogenic biofilms, a key driver of severe early childhood caries (S-ECC). The $460,885 award, running from March 2025 to February 2030, will support laboratory studies to...
The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) awarded a $163,411 Project Grant under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research (CFDA 93.121) federal grant program to The Ohio State University. The grant supports research to understand the interactions between Streptococcus mutans, a primary driver of dental caries, and other commensal oral bacteria. The research aims to explicate the nutritional niches and carbohydrate utilization preferences of these microbes within oral...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), provides $111,701.00 to the University of Illinois at Chicago to conduct research on the mechanism and impact of Streptococcal RAS-RIPPS on the human oral microbiome. The award period runs from August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2025. The key objectives of this research project are to elucidate the mechanism of action of the RAS-RIPP...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), provides $310,000.00 to the Regents of the University of Minnesota to identify natural products synthesized by Streptococcus mutans bacteria that can kill the oral pathogen Enterococcus faecalis. The key products and services to be delivered include: Discovering natural products (e.g. non-ribosomal peptides/polyketides)...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), provides $273,009.00 to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to conduct research on a conserved streptococcal membrane protein affecting manganese utilization. The goal is to determine the crystal structure and characterize the function of this protein, which is hypothesized to be an acyltransferase that incorporates...
This $249,000 Project Grant awarded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research federal grant program (CFDA 93.121) will fund research to elucidate the mechanism of action and impact of radical-S-adenosylmethionine ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RAS-RIPPs) produced by oral Streptococcus bacteria on the human oral microbiome. The primary goals are to define the mechanism of action of...
This Project Grant award of $1,072,058 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), supports research to study the mechanisms of integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) in the oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans. The research aims to:
Dissect the regulatory mechanisms controlling the excision and transfer of the TNSMU1 ICE model in S. mutans, 2) Elucidate the interactions between TNSMU1, other mobile genetic elements, and the CRISPR-Cas defense system in bacterial hosts, and 3) Investigate the fitness costs of TNSMU1 acquisition on recipient bacterial strains. This work will provide critical insights into horizontal gene transfer mechanisms and the adaptability of S. mutans within the oral microbiome. The project involves a sub-award to Purdue University to support specific research tasks under the project.