Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) awarded Health Research, Inc. Wadsworth Center a $386,003 Project Grant under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) effective August 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031. This award supports fundamental research investigating mechanisms of bacterial defense against conjugative plasmids and their phages, with specific focus on understanding how bacteria resist plasmid acquisition and viral infection. The research addresses a critical public health challenge by elucidating the molecular basis of plasmid-dependent phage (PDP) host range and identifying novel defense systems that bacteria employ at the plasmid-phage interface.

The project deliverables encompass three integrated research objectives: (1) molecular dissection of the plasmid defense system CPDA in Pseudomonas aeruginosa to characterize plasmid transfer detection and blocking mechanisms; (2) determination of PDP host range molecular basis through comparative genomics and evolutionary experiments; and (3) discovery of new bacterial defenses through unbiased functional metagenomic screening. The research employs integrated methodologies including genetics, biochemistry, imaging, and metagenomics to uncover defense mechanisms that cannot be predicted from genomic sequence analysis alone. These findings are expected to advance fundamental understanding of bacterial-phage-plasmid interactions and contribute to strategies for controlling antibiotic resistance dissemination.