# Influence of the Cervicovaginal Phageome on Health and Disease in Women Living with HIV.

> **NIH NIH K08** · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · 2024 · $196,452

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The female reproductive tract (FRT) microbiome consists of all microbes within that space, including the
bacteriome and the virome, which is comprised of the phageome (bacteriophages) and eukaryotic viruses. Low
diversity Lactobacillus-dominant bacteriomes play a pivotal protective role in maintaining women’s health,
including preventing pre-term birth, bacterial vaginosis (BV), yeast infections, and sexually transmitted infections.
However, shifts to high diversity FRT bacteriomes, such as in BV, result in increased FRT inflammation, and
consequent increased risk of symptomatic BV, pre-term birth, and STIs including HIV. Bacteriophages are natural
predators of bacteria and are more numerous and diverse than bacteria and may serve to regulate bacterial
populations. Our prior work showed the FRT bacteriophages form communities which corresponded with FRT
diseases; however, the mechanisms behind bacteriophage contribution to regulating FRT bacterial populations
is largely undetermined. Our main objective is to determine the how these phageome communities contribute to
FRT health by regulating alterations in the bacteriome. In this proposal, we will utilize metagenomic sequencing
on FRT samples from a unique longitudinal cohort comprised of US women living with HIV and AIDS compared
to healthy controls to investigate (Aim 1) the FRT phageome communities over time, (Aim 2) the impact of AIDS
and antiretroviral therapy on the phageome, and (Aim 3) identify predictive taxonomic and metagenomic
biomarkers of shifts to high diversity FRT bacteriomes using bioinformatic knowledge gained during my career
development plan. My long-term career goal is to become an independently funded physician scientist leading
a translational research team to elucidate the virome’s influence on human health and disease and to develop
novel strategies to mitigate disease. My career development plan lays out a detailed strategy to augment my
expertise in computational biology and microbiome biostatistics, with the overall goal to improve my viral and
bacterial metagenomic pipelines, including functional annotation. An improved understanding of bacteriophage-
bacterial interactions in the FRT including biomarkers predictive of pathogenic FRT shifts, will pave the way
toward novel preventative strategies and phage-based therapeutics for FRT diseases including BV and STIs,
thereby improving women’s reproductive health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10839062
- **Project number:** 1K08AI181643-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Cynthia L. Monaco
- **Activity code:** K08 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $196,452
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-07 → 2028-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10839062

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10839062, Influence of the Cervicovaginal Phageome on Health and Disease in Women Living with HIV. (1K08AI181643-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10839062. Licensed CC0.

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