# Activity Probes to Guide Precision Microbiome Therapy

> **NIH NIH R01** · WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV · 2024 · $1,140,193

## Abstract

The microbiome has emerged as a functional microbial organ system that plays a key role in
human health and disease including obesity, cancer, and inflammation. Dietary and host factors
broadly regulate the composition and function of the microbiome and are associated with health
outcome, but the tools available to profile this organ system in humans are limited. Despite
advances in sequencing technologies that infer microbial metabolic function, there remains a
significant unmet need for the direct characterization of functional metabolic pathways within the
microbiome that play a pivotal role in human health and disease. This proposal application aims
to use activity-based probes in the study of the microbiome. This novel approach allows for direct
measurement of protein function, bypassing the reliance on downstream metabolites as indirect
indicators of microbial activity. By focusing on functionally active enzymes and linking them to
specific taxa, the study will achieve a level of molecular resolution and specificity not previously
attainable, thus revolutionizing our understanding of the microbiome's functional role. We will
further leverage this technology to enrich for microbial consortia or isolate specific taxa with
functional capabilities that will be translated to pre-clinical and clinical studies to complete the
pipeline of precision microbial therapeutics. Successful execution of this research will have a
profound impact on scientific understanding of the microbiome's contribution to human health and
disease, specifically highlighting the impact of diet and intestinal inflammation. By uncovering the
specific microbial metabolic pathways associated with clinical response and treatment efficacy,
the study opens up new avenues to develop targeted therapies to modulate the microbiome,
enhancing treatment outcomes for patients. This technology has the potential to revolutionize how
we investigate microbial function, emphasizing the microbiome's function and resultant activities
due to disease, thus paving the way for personalized therapies and interventions targeting specific
microbial metabolic pathways.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10917618
- **Project number:** 1R01AT013241-01
- **Recipient organization:** WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV
- **Principal Investigator:** Chun-Jun Guo
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,140,193
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2029-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10917618

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10917618, Activity Probes to Guide Precision Microbiome Therapy (1R01AT013241-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10917618. Licensed CC0.

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