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NIH grants University of Michigan $9.2 million for C. difficile research
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As part of the U.S. government’s $1.2 billion effort for multiple agencies to take on antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the NIH has awarded a $9.2 million grant to University of Michigan researchers studying prevention and treatment of Clostridium difficile infection, according to a press release.
Over the next 5 years, the research team will use the funds to accelerate their current research and develop computational models to better understand C. difficile infection, which affects half a million Americans annually at a cost of $5 billion per year.
“This should help us lay the groundwork for both short- and long-term solutions to the C. difficile crisis, by understanding what puts patients at risk for C. difficile infection, and how we can best protect and cure them,” Vincent Young, MD, PhD, a professor in the department of internal medicine’s division of infectious disease at the University of Michigan Medical School, said in the press release.
Taking a “system biology approach,” the team will use patient medical records and blood samples, and study patients’ gut microbiota to develop the computational models, which will enable a nuanced understanding of how underlying health, the natural microbiome and antibiotics interact to affect C. difficile infection and treatment.
They then plan to recreate their findings in murine models, with the ultimate goal of identifying risk factors for colonization and both initial and recurrent C. difficile infections, and producing specific data that physicians can use to prevent and treat C. difficile infections in health care settings.
This grant will build on University of Michigan’s C. difficile research that has spanned nearly a decade, “thanks to previous NIH grants and funding from the Medical School’s self-funded Host Microbiome Initiative,” according to the press release. “Working in mice, the team has detailed the organism’s natural life cycle in the gut. They’ve also made strides in understanding the mechanisms by which the ‘village’ of normal gut bacteria can interfere with C. difficile colonization. And they’ve even shown a connection between depression and increased risk of C. difficile infection.”