# Microbial, immune, metabolic perturbations by antibiotics (MIME study)

> **NIH NIH U01** · RBHS-ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON MEDICAL SCHOOL · 2020 · $1,558,030

## Abstract

Project Summary
As SARS-CoV-2 is sweeping through the USA, healthcare workers (HCW) are our first line of
defense. But they too are susceptible to becoming infected, resulting in physical illness, loss of
productivity, and potential for disease transmission to patients. Our long-term goal is to protect
HCW taking care of SARS-CoV-2-infected patients as well as their families, communities, and
the general population. Our specific objective is to rapidly establish a prospective cohort to
characterize the factors related to viral transmission and disease severity in a large healthcare
system in both healthcare settings and workers' households. Our central hypothesis is that
HCW are at higher risk of acquiring and transmitting SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 compared
with non-healthcare workers (NCHW). We propose to address this hypothesis by recruiting and
following 500 HCW and 250 age- and sex-matched NHCW within a large academic health
system, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS). By intensively following participants
over a six-month period and collecting serial biospecimens (nasopharyngeal swabs and blood)
and questionnaire data at nine time points, we will be uniquely situated to characterize SARS-
CoV-2 transmission and risk factors for COVID-19 among HCW and their families. Our specific
aims are: (i), to assess the baseline prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 in the study
population; (ii), to characterize the natural history of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a diverse US
workforce, including the incidence of asymptomatic infections and critical illness; (iii), to
determine the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 in healthcare workers compared with
non-healthcare workers; (iv), to identify the risk factors for acquiring SARS-CoV-2 and
developing COVID-19; (v), to determine the duration and extent of SARS-CoV-2 shedding; and
(vi), to determine the rate and direction of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within households. Our
multidisciplinary team has the opportunity, population, resources, and motivation to immediately
tackle these crucial questions and to mobilize in the early stages of this public health crisis
before overwhelming infection occurs in the US. The proposed cohort study will produce
immediate, actionable, and translatable knowledge about protecting the healthcare workforce.
The established cohort and repository of ~15,000 biospecimens will also serve as a foundation
for future mechanistic studies. The coordinated activities of our team working within a large
healthcare system will advance efforts to control, treat, and prevent COVID-19, with focus on
the safety of HCW and the staffing of hospitals during this continuing epidemic.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10130153
- **Project number:** 3U01AI122285-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** RBHS-ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON MEDICAL SCHOOL
- **Principal Investigator:** MARTIN J BLASER
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $1,558,030
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-05-13 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10130153

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10130153, Microbial, immune, metabolic perturbations by antibiotics (MIME study) (3U01AI122285-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10130153. Licensed CC0.

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