# A Resource Center for Tetrahymena Thermophila

> **NIH NIH P40** · CORNELL UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $350,240

## Abstract

Project Summary / Abstract
 This proposal seeks continued funding for the Tetrahymena Stock Center in order to maintain its current
operations, expand its capabilities and ensure its sustainability as a resource for the community at-large. A key
model for eukaryotic cell and molecular biology, Tetrahymena thermophila has been instrumental to our
understanding of a wide range of biological phenomena with direct relevance to human health and disease
including cancer, infertility, aging, respiratory and neuroendocrine dysfunction. Tetrahymena has also shown
great promise as a platform for the production of recombinant proteins, including vaccine antigens and difficult-
to-express human ion channels, and serves as a useful teaching tool in K12 and undergraduate classrooms.
Specifically, our aims for the Resource are to 1) continue to act as a strain repository accepting new strains and
making live cultures of T. thermophila available to interested users at reasonable cost; 2) complete the annotation
of archival strains currently housed at the Center and acquire next-generation cloning vectors for micro- and
macronuclear genome-editing; 3) offer expanded services and develop innovative marketing approaches to
increase revenues. Additionally, to ensure insure long-term stability of the resource we plan to 4) relocate the
repository from Cornell University to Washington University in St. Louis; 5) migrate all data from the legacy
Tetrahymena Genome Database (TGD) schema to CHADO and transfer its web-hosting functions from Bradley
University to the NSF-funded National Center for Genome Analysis Support (NCGAS) at Indiana University; and,
6) redesign the TGD website to display relevant data via the Tripal framework. Our additional Research aims
are to: 7) develop genetic strains lacking a functional ribosomal DNA locus to enable selection-free creation of
new cell lines; and, 8) develop CRISPR-mediated genome editing tools to enhance the overall utility of the
Tetrahymena platform.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9931320
- **Project number:** 5P40OD010964-16
- **Recipient organization:** CORNELL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** DOUGLAS LEE CHALKER
- **Activity code:** P40 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $350,240
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2004-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9931320

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9931320, A Resource Center for Tetrahymena Thermophila (5P40OD010964-16). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9931320. Licensed CC0.

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