Federal Grant Award Summary

Case Western Reserve University received a $340,149 Project Grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) under the Oral Diseases and Disorders Research program (CFDA 93.121), awarded February 4, 2026, with a completion date of February 3, 2028. The grant supports the development of "An Atlas of Bacterial Physiology in the Human Oral Cavity," a comprehensive research initiative leveraging 697 publicly available human oral metatranscriptomes to characterize gene expression patterns of key oral pathogens, pathobionts, and commensal microorganisms across multiple oral sites and disease states.

The project delivers research products that identify and analyze bacterial behavior and gene expression associated with oral health and disease conditions, including periodontitis, caries, and halitosis. Utilizing metatranscriptomic analysis, pangenomic approaches, and in silico validation methodologies, the research will characterize virulence factor expression, metabolic processes, and host-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions for individual oral taxa. The findings will establish a detailed biological atlas documenting how specific oral microorganisms function during both healthy and diseased oral states, with analysis of behavioral variation across different host populations, thereby advancing fundamental knowledge to support prevention and treatment strategies for prevalent oral health conditions.