# Biogeography of Aquatic Pathogens in Hawaiian Watersheds

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA · 2021 · $177,696

## Abstract

Project Summary – PROJECT 1: JI, Kiana Frank 
Despite large advances in water and wastewater treatment, waterborne diseases still pose a major worldwide 
threat to public health. However, most waterborne pathogens are unmonitored, and their adverse effect on 
human health and productivity can only be controlled by obtaining a thorough understanding of their incidence, 
environmental niches, and the epidemiology of the diseases they cause. The goal of this proposal is to 
evaluate how land-use patterns and environmental factors influence the diversity, abundance, virulence and 
persistence of waterborne microbial threats in Hawaiian watersheds - as a model to improve our understanding 
of the global pathogen diversity and of the environmental forces shaping it. The overarching hypothesis is that 
factors associated with urbanization contribute to increased pathogen abundance, diversity and distribution. By 
integrating field sampling, experimental approaches, geochemistry and genomics this proposal will (i) 
characterize the biogeography of aquatic pathogens in three Hawaiian watersheds; (ii) define the bases of the 
observed patterns of pathogen diversity and density; and (iii) test the influence of physical and chemical 
variables on pathogen dynamics. This work will enable biogeographic modeling of these dynamics to predict 
threats across geochemical and anthropogenic gradients, aid in the development of more efficient, accurate 
and reliable molecular screening tools, and foster a more informed public on the presence and risks of 
pathogens in their environment. It is also highly relevant to broad goals currently driving epidemiology and 
environmental microbiology. This project will take full advantage of the proposed Microbial Genomics and 
Analytical (M-GAL) Core, as well as the Microscopy Imaging Center for Research through Observation 
(MICRO) and the University of Hawaii's Cyberinfrastructure Core. The impact of this research is synergistic 
with that of COBRE Projects 2-5, serving as a foundation to understand microbial interactions with the physico- 
chemical environment - from free-living to symbiotic organisms - and their influence on human health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10237918
- **Project number:** 5P20GM125508-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
- **Principal Investigator:** Kiana Frank
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $177,696
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-15 → 2021-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10237918

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10237918, Biogeography of Aquatic Pathogens in Hawaiian Watersheds (5P20GM125508-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10237918. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*