Federal Grant Award Summary

The University of Chicago received a $243,824 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), effective May 19, 2026, with a completion date of April 30, 2028. This award supports investigator-initiated biomedical research examining the relationship between gut microbiome steroid hormone metabolism and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The research deliverable is exploratory scientific investigation using gnotobiotic mouse models with genetically defined bacterial strains to test whether microbial inactivation of glucocorticoids disrupts anti-inflammatory signaling and exacerbates intestinal inflammation.

The funded research aims to produce scientific findings and methodological advances that characterize a novel mechanistic link between microbial modulation of host endocrine signaling and inflammation. Specifically, the project will generate data comparing glucocorticoid-metabolizing bacterial enzymes in IBD patients versus healthy controls and evaluate the functional impact of steroid-metabolizing bacteria in controlled experimental models. The ultimate goal is to inform the development of microbiome-based diagnostics and therapeutic approaches for inflammatory digestive diseases, contributing to the NIAID program's broader objective of advancing scientific knowledge and improving health outcomes for infectious and allergic disease management.