Summary
Collaborative research to understand how mucus shapes and maintains microbiomes through physical, chemical, and nutritive interactions, with implications for human health, animal thriving, and material engineering.
Collaborative Research: MIM: Learning how mucus shapes and maintains microbiomes
US · IL
NSF
grant
awarded
#nsf-2545246
What they want
The project will investigate three questions: What properties of mucus do microbes care about? How are microbes structured in mucus? What are the processes by which microbiomes self-organize in mucus? This involves evaluating how mucin glycans select for specific microbes, identifying the influence of mucus components on spatial structure, and determining mechanisms regulating microbial community assembly.
Deliverables
- New citizen science initiatives and demonstrations
- Integrated research and education
- Engagement of students and teachers to create a diverse community of researchers
- Inform applications to engineer mucus-inspired materials to control environmental and organismal microbiomes
- New educational and outreach efforts for all ages to improve public awareness of mucus and microbiomes
Technical requirements
- Mucus biochemistry
- Microbiome structure and molecular biology
- Biophysics of microbe-mucus interactions
- Investigation of mucin glycans
- Analysis of spatial structure of complex microbial communities
- Determination of microbial community assembly mechanisms
Key personnel
- Scientists specializing in mucus biochemistry
- Scientists specializing in microbiome structure and molecular biology
- Scientists specializing in the biophysics of microbe-mucus interactions
