# Biogeography of the peri-implant microbial ecosystem in health and during transition to disease

> **NIH NIH R56** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2024 · $675,684

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Dental implants restore chewing function to at least 100 million individuals and the market continues to grow
15% annually. However, over one million implants fail every year due to peri-implantitis, a disease that is
triggered by disruption of the intricate balance between the microbial ecosystem that colonizes the peri-implant
sulcus and host immunity. Our ability to prevent and treat peri-implantitis is hampered by a paucity of
information on inter-microbial and host-microbiome interactions in this ecosystem. Therefore, there is an urgent
need for biological investigations that will improve our understanding of how this ecosystem is colonized and
when, why, and how this homeostasis breaks down. Based on our discovery of a robust viral presence in this
ecosystem, we hypothesize that that interactions between implant surface, bacterial and viral communities and
the host barrier are critical for homeostasis, and that an abandonment of these transactions moves the
ecosystem towards chronic inflammatory programming. We propose to test this hypothesis by combining two
novel clinical study designs with integrated ‘-omics’ approaches, image analysis and computational
bioinformatics and validating them using a unique in vitro model of the titanium-tissue-microbiome interface,
the IMiTATE that we have developed. This approach will bridge the gap between clinical outcome-based
studies and in vitro investigations or animal models, both of which have limited capabilities to replicate human
behavior and physiology. First, we will create a functional atlas of the peri-implant sulcus from its moment of
inception to the establishment of a climax community using dual transcriptome-metatranscriptome sequencing,
viral metagenomics and transcript-guided imaging. Second, we will pinpoint timelines for breakdown of
mutualism by combining a multi-arm, longitudinal clinical study with a network analysis algorithm. Finally, we
will validate these discoveries with the IMiTATE. The proposed studies will bring us closer to understanding the
etiopathogenesis of peri-implant diseases, provide biologically-validated timelines for assessing risk, and
develop indicators or predictors of disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11116277
- **Project number:** 1R56DE033913-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Purnima Kumar
- **Activity code:** R56 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $675,684
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-01 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11116277

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11116277, Biogeography of the peri-implant microbial ecosystem in health and during transition to disease (1R56DE033913-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11116277. Licensed CC0.

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