# Development of a microphysiologic system to assay the interaction of the human colonic epithelium on Clostridium difficile

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $553,951

## Abstract

Project Summary
In the current application, a collaborative, multidisciplinary research project is proposed to
develop and validate an innovative platform to study the interactions between primary human
intestinal cells and the pathogenic microbe, Clostridium difficile (C. difficile). A new and uniquely
engineered technology will create an intestine-on-chip (organ-on-chip) platform capable of
maintaining a viable human colonic epithelium co-cultured with luminal nonpathogenic and
pathogenic obligate anaerobes in order to study fundamental cellular processes that occur
during the interaction between the human and microbial cells. The work will design, model and
engineer a three-dimensional intestinal-cell culture platform that supports a physiologic
mucous layer as well as mimics the sheer forces of the passage of fecal material. The design of
this system will make it possible to observe and perturb the human-microbe cell-cell
interactions and modify respective environments to elucidate the underlying cellular and
molecular events key to these interactions. A powerful attribute of the proposal is that these
experiments will leverage new stem-cell culture methods that produce a normal, primary
human colonic epithelium rather than use tumor cell lines as the source of the mammalian cells.
The experimental data generated by the proposed microphysiological system will in the future
provide key information concerning prevention and treatment option(s) for C. difficile as well as
provide a new technique for the study of other infectious organisms involving the
gastrointestinal tract.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9884925
- **Project number:** 1R01DK120606-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Nancy L. Allbritton
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $553,951
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-03-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9884925

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9884925, Development of a microphysiologic system to assay the interaction of the human colonic epithelium on Clostridium difficile (1R01DK120606-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9884925. Licensed CC0.

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