# Computational tools for illuminating the dark matter of the human virome

> **NIH NIH U01** · BATTELLE PACIFIC NORTHWEST LABORATORIES · 2024 · $576,681

## Abstract

Project Summary
As greater understanding of the important role that the human microbiome plays in human
health has unfolded it is increasingly recognized that there is a vast and uncharted group of
viruses that have direct and important influence on the composi�on, dynamics, and func�on of
these microbial communi�es, and thus on the health of the human host. Metagenome
sequencing efforts and other high-throughput methodologies have opened the door to large-
scale cataloguing and characteriza�on of free-living viruses and prophage, which are resident in
their bacterial host genomes. However, the diversity and lack of knowledge about these viruses
hampers our ability to understand their poten�al impact. Illumina�ng the region outside of our
current knowledge, so-called ‘dark mater’, is necessary to be able to understand, monitor,
control, and u�lize virus-community interac�ons to promote human health.
We hypothesize that applica�on of established and newly developed pipelines using these and
other tools will allow vastly improved iden�fica�on and characteriza�on of viral elements that
are impac�ng human microbiome dynamics, and that providing improved tools for visualizing
these predic�ons and the rela�onships between them will have a broad impact on the field. To
address these gaps we will develop enhanced methods for detec�on of viral sequences using
graph assemblies, build a sequence- and structure-based pipeline for characteriza�on of
auxiliary genes carried by viruses, and provide novel and useful ways of visualizing this complex
informa�on to allow greater insight from researchers in the field.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10985996
- **Project number:** 1U01DE034176-01
- **Recipient organization:** BATTELLE PACIFIC NORTHWEST LABORATORIES
- **Principal Investigator:** Jason Edward McDermott
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $576,681
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-20 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10985996

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10985996, Computational tools for illuminating the dark matter of the human virome (1U01DE034176-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10985996. Licensed CC0.

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