# Bacterial mediators of postnatal growth in preterm infants

> **NIH NIH R03** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $115,920

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The intestinal microbiome is known to play an integral role in human nutrition and metabolism in adults, but
there remain large fundamental gaps in our understanding of the role of the microbiome in growth and
nutrition during infancy. Extremely preterm infants commonly experience poor growth and nutrient accretion
in the postnatal period, which is independently associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. Prior
work from the applicant demonstrates that extremely preterm infants with poor postnatal growth have
differences in the development of the microbiome that persist throughout the NICU period and are associated
with altered host metabolism. Further, preliminary findings from the applicant’s K23 project demonstrate that
neonatal gnotobiotic mice colonized by intestinal microbial communities from extremely preterm infants with
poor postnatal growth have lower weight and length gain than neonatal mice colonized by microbial
communities from infants with appropriate postnatal growth trajectories, suggesting that the microbiome is
causally related to postnatal growth. This proposal will build upon the applicant’s current K23 research to
identify specific bacterial mediators of these effects and test their potential to increase postnatal weight and
length gain in gnotobiotic mice colonized from birth with the microbiomes of preterm infants with poor
postnatal growth. Together with the K23 work, the proposed experiments will provide a tractable model and
strong foundational data to support a competitive R01 application focused on understanding the mechanisms
of microbial influences on postnatal growth and development. Further, this work has potential to lead to
discovery of new microbiome-targeted approaches to support healthy growth and nutrition in preterm infants
during a critical developmental period.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10758244
- **Project number:** 5R03DK134684-02
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Noelle Elizabeth Younge
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $115,920
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-01-01 → 2025-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10758244

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10758244, Bacterial mediators of postnatal growth in preterm infants (5R03DK134684-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10758244. Licensed CC0.

---

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