P20GM152333

Oklahoma Center for Microbiome Research - Project Summary/Abstract
This Phase I COBRE would create the Oklahoma Center for Microbiome Research (OCMR). The proposed Center of Excellence will foster the careers of up-and-coming scientists in the microbiome field.
The goal is to create the intellectual environment necessary to support five research project leaders in microbiome research by installing a mentoring system and building research infrastructure.

The OCMR is innovative because it would be one of only three microbiome-focused COBRE grants awarded nationwide and the first to create infrastructure for cutting-edge anaerobic microbiology services. The anaerobic core will be the first facility in Oklahoma to provide customized culturomics services, which is imperative not only for this COBRE but the wider Oklahoma research community.
Enhanced anaerobic microbiology infrastructure is critical for the success of the proposed research projects.

The Center of Excellence is significant because it is one of four strategic research initiatives prioritized for sustained support by Oklahoma State University’s Division of the Vice President for Research. As such, the OSU administration has made substantial institutional commitments to this Phase I COBRE application. Specifically, these investments include new faculty lines, startup packages, research space, support for pilot projects, and a new anaerobic microbiology research core.

The projects associated with the OCMR will generate new knowledge of microbiome structure and function to lay the foundation for treatments to maintain and restore microbiome health. The OCMR will be located at Oklahoma State University, a Carnegie Research 1 institution and the state’s land grant university, in primary partnership with the OSU Center for Health Sciences, an academic health center that includes the College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tulsa, and the COM Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, OK.

The PI/Director of the OCMR will be Dr. Tyrrell Conway who brings over three decades of experience mentoring students, postdocs, staff, and faculty; leading large research projects to study microbiome functions; and administering a large academic department. This Center of Excellence will initially have 20 scientists as key personnel, including five promising research project leaders and several well-established microbiome researchers to serve as mentors and core director.

The OCMR will provide funding, research core support, and mentoring to research project leaders to facilitate their independence, i.e., R01 status. The proposed Center of Excellence will be created by executing four specific aims: 1) recruit and support five research project leaders to scientific independence; 2) create a thematic center to mentor research project leaders and promote multidisciplinary research centered around microbiome science; 3) establish a new research core for anaerobic microbiology to boost innovative and collaborative microbiome science, enhance anaerobic culturomics capacities, and share experimental approaches; and 4) support an environment of intellectual collaboration through activities that allow frequent interactions and develop a sustainable Center of Excellence focused on microbiome research.

Oklahoma State University

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES (NIGMS) SUPPORTS BASIC RESEARCH THAT INCREASES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND LAYS THE FOUNDATION FOR ADVANCES IN DISEASE DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT, AND PREVENTION. NIGMS ALSO SUPPORTS RESEARCH IN SPECIFIC CLINICAL AREAS THAT AFFECT MULTIPLE ORGAN SYSTEMS: ANESTHESIOLOGY AND PERI-OPERATIVE PAIN, CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY ?COMMON TO MULTIPLE DRUGS AND TREATMENTS, AND INJURY, CRITICAL ILLNESS, SEPSIS, AND WOUND HEALING.? NIGMS-FUNDED SCIENTISTS INVESTIGATE HOW LIVING SYSTEMS WORK AT A RANGE OF LEVELSFROM MOLECULES AND CELLS TO TISSUES AND ORGANSIN RESEARCH ORGANISMS, HUMANS, AND POPULATIONS. ADDITIONALLY, TO ENSURE THE VITALITY AND CONTINUED PRODUCTIVITY OF THE RESEARCH ENTERPRISE, NIGMS PROVIDES LEADERSHIP IN SUPPORTING THE TRAINING OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS, ENHANCING THE DIVERSITY OF THE SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE, AND DEVELOPING RESEARCH CAPACITY THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

93.859 - Biomedical Research and Research Training

National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) [HHS - NIH]

Stillwater, Oklahoma 740781016 United States

Single Zip Code

Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Phase 1 (P20 - Clinical Trial Optional) (PAR-22-250)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 90% from $2,381,601 to $4,514,441.