# Phenotype screens of Chlamydia Inclusions

> **NIH NIH R03** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $77,243

## Abstract

Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis is a major health concern with over 200 million people with active
urogenital or ocular infection each year worldwide. Chlamydia are obligate intracellular bacteria
with a unique biphasic developmental cycle. A better understanding of that biphasic cycle can
lead to inhibitors that are specific for chlamydial infection in order to avoid overuse of antibiotics.
Individual Chlamydia are too small and tightly packed to be spatially separated with conventional
light microscopes, and 3D SEM is too labor-intensive for inhibitor studies. We will use a new
sample preparation method that physically expands the sample with polymers termed "Expansion
Microscopy" or ExM. Expanded samples can then be imaged with a traditional confocal
microscope, and high-content analysis performed automatically using machine learning methods
such as pixel classification and novelty detection. Prepared samples can be imaged and analyzed
in under an hour instead of the multiple days required for 3D SEM. This R03 grant will develop
an innovative high-content screening platform, called Expansion Microscopy Aided Phenotyping
(ExMAP), for the quantification of changes in Chlamydia development after treatment. ExMAP
can be paired with Chlamydia transformed with promoters for EUO and IhtA (RB cell types) and
the promoters for HctB and Tarp (EB cell types). The combination of expansion microscopy,
machine learning, and chlamydial transformation will make ExMAP a powerful tool for research
on both the developmental cycle and new therapy development.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10128374
- **Project number:** 5R03AI146437-02
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Heather Brown-Harding
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $77,243
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-03-19 → 2023-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10128374

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10128374, Phenotype screens of Chlamydia Inclusions (5R03AI146437-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10128374. Licensed CC0.

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