# Defining Small Intestinal Microbial Landscapes To Improve Therapeutics For Gastrointestinal Disease

> **NIH NIH K08** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $165,996

## Abstract

Project Summary:
Defining Small Intestinal Microbial Landscapes To Improve Therapeutics For Gastrointestinal Disease
Disease Relevance: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a chronic disorder characterized by altered bowel
function (consistency and/or frequency) in additional to abdominal pain, effecting 7-16% of the US population
and associated with an $1 billion of direct health care costs annually. This proposal seeks to better understand
IBS and to develop more effective treatments for IBS. Candidate and Career Development Plan: My long-term
goal is to become a fully independent physician scientist through leadership of a cutting-edge research program
in human microbiota analysis and its association with clinical data complemented using a variety of tools
(molecular genetics, metabolomics, gnotobiotic mouse models) to clarify mechanisms of action that will enable
development of improved microbiota directed therapeutics for GI disease. Through my clinical training I am
poised to become an expert in diagnosing and treating IBS, and through my previous research training am well
equipped with the skills to perform high-resolution human and mouse immunology. To fully actualize my career
goals of becoming an expert in microbiota-host interactions in IBS I will need to gain skills beyond my current
knowledge base. This award will support the needed additional training in microbiota analysis, methods of clinical
research, bacterial isolation and culturing, and gnotobiotic mouse models. Research Plan: The overarching
research goal of this proposal is to move beyond feces, to define the site-specific microbial ecology of the human
small intestine in IBS. We will construct a longitudinal map of intestinal microbiota and metabolites in humans
with a swallowed, microbiota sampling capsule device. I have successfully employed this approach in healthy
humans and the proposed research will expand sample collection to include IBS patient samples analyzed with
microbiota sequencing, novel microbiota-focused metabolomics (Aim 1), and bacterial isolation and functional
testing (Aim 2), with complementary studies in gnotobiotic mice (Aim 3) to define fundamental aspects of host-
microbe interactions in the small intestine. Mentorship Team: To achieve these Aims, I have assembled a world
class mentorship team with expertise in translational human microbiome studies (Justin Sonnenburg, primary
mentor), isolation and study of bacteria from the human microbiome (KC Huang, co-mentor), and the treatment
and study of IBS (Linda Nguyen, co-mentor). Environment and Institutional Commitment: Stanford University
is a world leader in human microbiome studies and treating Gastroenterological(GI) disease. I will have access
to mentorship, collaborators, and a breadth of resources that will provide an exceptional training environment.
My mentorship team and the leadership within the Stanford Department of Medicine are committed to ensuring
my success. The scientific training, skil...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10836342
- **Project number:** 5K08DK134856-02
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Sean Paul Spencer
- **Activity code:** K08 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $165,996
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-05-03 → 2028-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10836342

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10836342, Defining Small Intestinal Microbial Landscapes To Improve Therapeutics For Gastrointestinal Disease (5K08DK134856-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10836342. Licensed CC0.

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