# Yeast-bacterial associations within the gravid vaginal microbiome and risk of preterm birth.

> **NIH NIH F30** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $50,520

## Abstract

Project Summary
Preterm birth (PTB) is the leading contributor to infant mortality and morbidity around the world. Vaginal
infection and dysbiosis are known risk factors for PTB. Consequently, there have been intense efforts to
understand the relationship between the vaginal microbiome and PTB. A major barrier has been the perplexing
observation that while bacterial vaginosis (BV) has been associated with PTB, the diverse bacterial community
structure indicative of BV has been associated with PTB in some studies but not others. One likely confounder
in understanding this relationship is race, since both BV, a diverse bacterial community structure and PTB are
more common among black women than Caucasian women; however, other confounding variables such as
yeast may also exist. Yeast often colonize the vagina and treating asymptomatic yeast infections has been
shown to reduce PTB. While parturition studies have found no significant associations between PTB and yeast
colonization, race and associated bacterial communities were not accounted for. The goal of the proposed
research is to simultaneously assess both fungal and bacterial components of the vaginal microbiome to
disentangling their relationship with preterm birth. Our hypothesis is that yeast colonization is more common
among women with a diverse bacterial community structure and that fungal colonization is associated with PTB
within the context of a diverse bacterial community. To test this hypothesis, we will use a novel combination of
quantitative PCR and high-throughput sequencing of DNA to accurately quantify fungal and bacteria
community diversity and relative abundance. We will apply this approach to vaginal swabs collected from a
racially diverse cohort of pregnant women, enabling us to test our hypothesis while controlling for known risk
factors. By completing this work, we seek to understand vaginal microbial communities and whether
antibiotic/antifungal combination therapies should be considered to reduce risk of PTB.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9971544
- **Project number:** 5F30HD094435-03
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Brett A Tortelli
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $50,520
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9971544

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9971544, Yeast-bacterial associations within the gravid vaginal microbiome and risk of preterm birth. (5F30HD094435-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9971544. Licensed CC0.

---

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