# Impacts of Benzo[a]pyrene on Microbiome Development across Lifespan and Generations and the Behavioral Consequences

> **NIH NIH R01** · OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $388,222

## Abstract

Project Summary / Abstract
This project will test the innovative hypothesis that developmental exposure to environmental toxicants can
alter gut microbiome assembly and succession to consequently result in impaired behavior and cognition. The
alarming rise in behavioral and cognitive disorders is linked to early life exposure to environmental chemicals,
such as benzo[a]pyrene (BAP), the globally ubiquitous pollutant on which this project focuses. While the
mechanisms underlying these impairments remain poorly defined, prior work implicates a dysbiotic gut
microbiome. This project will define how early life exposure to BAP alters the development of gut microbiome
structure and function and how these alterations relate to behavior. It will also couple high-throughput culturing
with a scalable, germ-free animal model (zebrafish) to comprehensively measure the behavioral impacts of
BAP-sensitive gut microbes and their metabolites. This project also quantifies how developmental BAP
exposure alters the microbiome-behavior axis in subsequent generations. Consequently, the proposed
research holds great potential to transform our understanding of the causes of behavior impairment and reveal
new candidates, in the forms of gut microbes and metabolites, for normalizing behavior development.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9853019
- **Project number:** 5R01ES030226-02
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Thomas Jefferson Sharpton
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $388,222
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-01 → 2024-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9853019

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9853019, Impacts of Benzo[a]pyrene on Microbiome Development across Lifespan and Generations and the Behavioral Consequences (5R01ES030226-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9853019. Licensed CC0.

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