# The Vanderbilt Urologic Infection Repository, a Resource for Personalized Clinical Discovery

> **NIH NIH P20** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $340,000

## Abstract

SUMMARY - OVERALL
In personalized medicine, the care of each patient is guided by his/her unique clinical circumstances. At its
foundation, however, this paradigm holds a concurrent need for personalized science, in which technologies are
developed and hypothesis explored in light of individual diversity. Critically, this diversity also includes unique
microbial populations, which can augment the onset, progression, and treatment of disease. Within the field of
benign urology, one of the most common pathologies—urinary tract infections (UTIs)—is also one of the most
heterogenous, as the risk factors, symptomatology, and outcomes can vary significantly from patient to patient.
Not surprisingly, the complexity of UTIs extends beyond the host, with tremendous genotypic and phenotypic
diversity among the species/strains of microbes that elicit these infections. To better align the management of
UTIs with the goals of precision care, our understanding of pathophysiology must become more nuanced, as we
network in tandem the inherent diversity of host and microbe. To these ends, we propose a resource that
provides an interconnected picture of both components, the Vanderbilt Urologic Infection Repository
(VUIR). With our institution's unique foundation in medical informatics, we will create a searchable database of
clinical parameters from bacteriuric patients (many thousands of cases annually), together with microbiologic
data on the organisms. In parallel, the paired microbial strains will be stored permanently as a biobank for
analysis and experimentation, together with linkage to anonymized versions of patient records within Vanderbilt's
Synthetic Derivative (a filtered version of our electronic health data). The logistical infrastructure for clinical
biobanking is also already in place at Vanderbilt via the institutionally-supported microVU initiative, in which
microbial isolates from the diagnostic laboratory are repurposed as academic resources. As a basic expansion
of these efforts, the VUIR will represent a first-in-kind tool for developing technologies to combat UTIs, while also
investigating their underlying pathogenesis. In particular, it could facilitate functional genomic studies that bridge
host and pathogen. Demonstrating the resource's value, we will conduct whole-genome sequencing of clinically
underrepresented bacterial species, together with genome-wide association studies that focus on the infection
phenotypes of the source-patients. In addition to novel virulence factors, we seek to identify elusive genomic
determinants that distinguish cases of asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) and symptomatic UTI. The molecular
basis of UTI-versus-ASB epitomizes a clinical challenge that requires integration of host and pathogen, as
provided by the VUIR. Finally, to support the program and its discoveries, we propose an organizational structure
of multidisciplinary content-area experts and dedicated support staff. Along with coordinating daily activi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10022297
- **Project number:** 5P20DK123967-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Douglass Brooks Clayton
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $340,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-17 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10022297

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10022297, The Vanderbilt Urologic Infection Repository, a Resource for Personalized Clinical Discovery (5P20DK123967-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10022297. Licensed CC0.

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