# Integrated Multi-omics of Melioidosis

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $864,642

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Melioidosis, a tropical infection commonly manifesting as acute pneumonia and sepsis in humans, is caused
by the Gram-negative Tier 1 select agent Burkholderia pseudomallei and represents a global public health
threat with an estimated 165,000 cases and 89,000 deaths annually worldwide (an overall mortality rate of
54%). Unfortunately numerous barriers exist to decreasing the burden of melioidosis including lack of an
effective vaccine, difficulty diagnosing and identifying high-risk patients, and challenges in treatment due to
extensive antimicrobial resistance of B. pseudomallei and lack of targeted immunotherapies. While work to
date spotlights the promise of the application of advanced technologies to melioidosis and identifies several
targets for further study, an incomplete understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms underlying host
susceptibility and outcome impedes efforts to prevent, diagnose, risk-stratify and treat this infection. The
overall hypothesis of this project is that by generating and integrating a rich compendium of multidimensional
data – transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic – from circulating immune cells and blood of patients with
melioidosis and selected controls, it is possible to identify fundamental biological pathways and processes
activated during melioidosis. Such comprehensive data, complemented by targeted in vitro experiments, are
desperately needed to inform the design of vaccines, diagnostics, prognostics and therapeutics to combat this
infectious threat. This hypothesis will be tested in the following aims: 1) Identify biological pathways that
distinguish melioidosis from other causes of sepsis; 2) Define biological processes and develop prognostic
signatures that predict death in melioidosis; and 3) Validate the function of key genes and pathways in human
cells infected with B. pseudomallei in vitro. This application leverages the investigators’ scientific and clinical
expertise in melioidosis, cutting edge bioinformatics capacity in transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics
both as independent domains and integrated together, and a rich clinical and biological dataset of over 5,000
septic patients due to melioidosis or to other infections. The successful completion of this project will yield an
unprecedented granular overview of mechanisms leading to melioidosis and the molecular signatures
associated with clinical outcomes, while also providing a unique resource to the scientific community to guide
further research into this important but neglected disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9978698
- **Project number:** 5R01AI137111-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Sina A Gharib
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $864,642
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-23 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9978698

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9978698, Integrated Multi-omics of Melioidosis (5R01AI137111-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9978698. Licensed CC0.

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