# National Gnotobiotic Rodent Resource Center

> **NIH NIH P40** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2022 · $34,753

## Abstract

Project Summary:
Resident microbiota profoundly influence physiologic responses in many organs and are linked to a number of
inflammatory (IBD, asthma, NASH, atherosclerosis), metabolic (diabetes, metabolic syndrome), neoplastic
(colon, breast and pancreatic cancer) and behavioral (depression, anorexia, autism) disorders. However, the
functional consequences and the primary vs. secondary nature of these compositional changes and the role of
individual bacterial species and combinations remain unknown. These functional properties can be
mechanistically addressed in gnotobiotic mice by precisely manipulating the microbiota by selectively
colonizing germ-free (GF) normal and genetically- engineered inbred mice with single or multiple resident or
pathogenic bacterial, viral or fungal species. Alternatively, transplants can transfer fecal or luminal material
derived from normal or diseased human or experimental animal models to GF mice to explore functional
properties of dysbiotic complex bacterial communities. However, the microbial heterogeneity in human
specimens and the clinical heterogeneity within patients with complex diseases are enormous, so the source of
materials used to colonize the ex-GF mice greatly affect results. Thus, an important unmet need is a readily
accessible source of fully characterized complex intestinal microbiota and bacterial strains to colonize
gnotobiotic mice.
We hypothesize that transferring fully characterized pooled fecal transplants and bacterial strains into
gnotobiotic inbred mice will yield highly reproducible results and stable phenotypes in recipient mice.
Aim: Develop and characterize pooled complex human and murine microbial communities and bacteria strains
with validated in vivo functions to create a repository that can be used to achieve reproducible results in
gnotobiotic studies.
This resource will be widely available to investigators using GF mice from our gnotobiotic facility and the
greater research community to improve rigor and reproducibility of experimental results and yield widely
accessible data to guide further mechanistic studies

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10432015
- **Project number:** 5P40OD010995-19
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Ryan B Sartor
- **Activity code:** P40 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $34,753
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2003-07-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10432015

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10432015, National Gnotobiotic Rodent Resource Center (5P40OD010995-19). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10432015. Licensed CC0.

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