# Multi-omics Strategies to Improve Clinical Outcomes in Uveitis

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2024 · $513,015

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Uveitis is an inflammatory eye disease that confers severe ocular morbidity and can cause long term blindness
if not diagnosed and treated promptly. Current challenges exist in the diagnosis of infectious cases due to
inadequate clinical laboratory methods to establish the exact cause and the current sample volume
requirement for multiple analysis. Technological advancements with high-throughput sequencing have
improved diagnostic strategies in medicine and are enabling the detection of several types of infectious
organisms. Additionally, biomarker discovery is lacking in uveitis. Herein we propose a collaboration with
stakeholders both local and international to enhance the understanding of the pathogenesis of uveitis to
improve upon uveitis classification, diagnosis, biomarker identification, and deepen our understanding of the
host response with the following aims. In the first aim we will perform worldwide surveillance of pathogens
causing uveitis, identify geographic trends, and assess the effect of pathogen class and antimicrobial
resistance on visual outcomes. We expect we will identify known and unknown causes of infectious uveitis
using metagenomic sequencing and that the organisms will vary by geographic locale and seasonality. Visual
outcomes will vary by pathogen class. In the second aim we will characterize the host gene expression profiles
in infectious uveitis and determine what profiles predict clinical outcomes. We will identify host transcriptome
signatures that will vary by pathogen class and determine the profiles implicated in clinical outcomes. In the
last aim we will interrogate the tears for noninvasive biomarker discovery using the proteome and metabolomic
signatures. These aims combine the characterization of pathogens, host transcriptomes, and the tear
proteome and metabolite signatures to provide a comprehensive molecular approach to improve the diagnosis
of uveitis. We will leverage international collaborators to use newer laboratory techniques with unbiased RNA
deep sequencing and mass spectrometry. This will contribute to further our understanding of the eye as a
surveillance site for infectious diseases and is paramount for establishing disease causality and will impart
knowledge and data into public health priorities, programs, and policy.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10856815
- **Project number:** 1R01EY036058-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** JESSICA Shantha
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $513,015
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-01 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10856815

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10856815, Multi-omics Strategies to Improve Clinical Outcomes in Uveitis (1R01EY036058-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10856815. Licensed CC0.

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