Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Award Details: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded $232,500 to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) on February 9, 2026, with a completion date of January 31, 2028.

Research Deliverables: This Project Grant funds development and application of multiplexed nuclear receptor (NR) reporter platforms designed to systematically map interactions between physiologically-defined bile acid pools and all 48 human nuclear receptors. The research leverages a novel multi-gastrointestinal (GI)-omics platform capable of parallel sampling of nearly 100 endogenous bile acid species and metabolites from multiple GI sites in mice, enabling high-resolution characterization of small intestinal bile acid reabsorption dynamics. Key deliverables include comprehensive mapping of the bile acid-nuclear receptor interactome by analyzing how the complex pool of primary and secondary bile acids—synthesized in the liver and modified through microbial metabolism—interact with intestinal immune and epithelial cell receptors. This work addresses a critical gap in understanding bile acid signaling mechanisms, as gold-standard reporter assays have historically been limited to tedious, single-plex approaches. The research is positioned to identify novel therapeutic targets for bile acid-regulated intestinal immunity and metabolic processes.