# Role of bacterial aggregation and biofilms in gonococcal pathogenesis

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · 2020 · $471,394

## Abstract

Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes about 800,000 new infections each year in the United States, with health-care
costs approaching 2 billion dollars/year. Various surface components, including lipooligosaccharide (LOS) and
opacity protein(s) (Opa(s)), are important in mediating disease. The objectives of this proposal are to
understand how Opa and LOS function in disease, and determine if their interaction enhance virulence. The
central hypothesis of the proposed research is that expression of specific Opa/LOS combinations promotes GC-
GC interactions to produce biofilms with different disease potentiating properties and antibiotic resistance
profiles. We intend to test our hypotheses by pursuing three specific aims: We will determine how Opa and
LOS function cooperatively to promote bacterial-bacterial interactions, how bacterial-bacterial interactions
effect the antibiotic resistance properties of GC biofilms and how bacterial aggregation influences adherence,
invasion and/or transmigration. The results from our study will allow us to define how LOS and Opa variation
contribute to disease pathogenesis. The impact on human health is expected to be significant, because with the
new knowledge gained, we will be better positioned to understand what is needed to make a successful vaccine
and what challenges we will face in developing new approaches to the treatment of gonorrhea.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9965723
- **Project number:** 5R01AI123340-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
- **Principal Investigator:** WENXIA SONG
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $471,394
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-07-06 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9965723

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9965723, Role of bacterial aggregation and biofilms in gonococcal pathogenesis (5R01AI123340-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9965723. Licensed CC0.

---

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