Advancing and modernizing germ-free and gnotobiotic operations to facilitate microbiome-related research

The National Institutes of Health Office of the Director awarded Cornell University $349,982 under the Research Infrastructure Programs (CFDA 93.351) on September 1, 2026 to advance germ-free and gnotobiotic mouse husbandry operations at the Cornell Center for Animal Resources and Education.

The award funds the acquisition of isolator caging systems and biosafety changing systems designed to maintain sterile germ-free environments for research mice. The isolator systems feature enhanced ports for sterile mouse transfer and an innovative gloving system to allow efficient manipulation of the animal environment, enabling researchers to sustain the germ-free state and conduct long-term gnotobiotic experiments exceeding four weeks in duration. These capabilities will support microbiome-related research by allowing investigators to control and study the microbial communities associated with research animals, thereby clarifying the mechanisms and functions of microbes that contribute to health and disease phenotypes.

The performance period runs from September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027, with work performed in Ithaca, New York. This is a Project Grant, an assistance type under the Research Infrastructure Programs, which supports research resources including research models, scientific instrumentation, and facility modernization.

Abstract

Microbial influences on human physiology are being recognized as significant yet undercharacterized contributors to health and can serve as potential therapeutic targets for the amelioration of a range of disease states. To harness the therapeutic potential of the microbiome, IT is necessary to define the exact mechanisms and microbial functions that define health. This can be achieved through research models that allow investigators to fully control the microbes associated with research animals. The ability to maintain mice in a germ-free state is the basis of the field of gnotobiotic animal husbandry where known communities of microbes are associated with animals to derive the microbial contribution to host- microbe phenotypes. The germ-free/gnotobiotic research model is an incredibly powerful way to understand microbial contributions to a system but challenges to gnotobiotic husbandry reside in the enormous effort to maintain sterility of mouse housing environments. To address these issues, the gnotobiotic mouse husbandry program housed in the cornell center for animal resources and education is requesting isolator caging systems and accompanying biosafety changing systems for germ-free applications. The isolator systems will improve current operations by providing a caging environment that allows for increased sustainability of the germ-free state which will allow for an expansion of operations that will greatly improve the biomedical research endeavors of microbiome science-related research at cornell. Moreover, the isolator systems will allow investigators to execute long-term (> 4 weeks) gnotobiotic experiments that will allow for expanded research possibilities. The requested isolator systems have enhanced ports for the sterile transfer of mice, an innovative gloving system to allow for efficient manipulation of the animal environment with lower physical stress on researchers, and increased built in ability to sterilize the complete isolator system. Successful setup of the isolator system and biosafety changing stations will greatly improve the ability to sustain the germ- free state which will improve animal welfare, make animal operations more efficient, and enable the acceleration of rigorous and reproducible microbiome-centric biomedical research.