# Concentration and single virion analysis of the virome

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2024 · $233,250

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Clinical virology is predicated on the workflow of analyzing small sample volumes (to minimize patient discomfort,
storage, and fit legacy infrastructure) for a single analyte, i.e., virus, with utmost precision. The human virome
project (HVP) does not share these restrictions. The HVP priority tissues of urine, stool, saliva, and blood can
be acquired from healthy people in a 50 – 500 ml sample size. For instance, the Red Cross makes normal
plasma available in 500 ml bags, and NGS allows for the characterization of all human viruses in a single
reaction. This proposal responds to RFA-RM-23-018 with the development of two novel tools: AIM 1, a virus
purification pipeline that utilizes larger volumes to achieve < 1 genome copy/ ml sensitivity; AIM 2, a single virion
detection pipeline to provide an accurate denominator of how many intact virions a given NGS sequence set is
representing. We hypothesize that Viral Direct Counts (VDC) akin to bacterial direct counts will become the
essential parameter for integrating the studies in the HVP.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10986275
- **Project number:** 1U01DE034179-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Dirk P Dittmer
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $233,250
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-20 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10986275

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10986275, Concentration and single virion analysis of the virome (1U01DE034179-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10986275. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*