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.

NARRATIVE Microbiome science permeates much of the current thinking in biomedicine, which is demonstrated by the approximately 100 microbiome scientists at Oklahoma State University (OSU) contributing to research efforts to promote microbiome health and target treatments to reverse microbiome dysbiosis. To further advance microbiome research, we must develop a critical mass of new investigators who can compete successfully for independent funding. The goal of the Oklahoma Center for Microbiome Research is to recruit, mentor, and support Research Project Leaders and generally enhance infrastructure by establishing a research core to provide to customized anaerobic microbiology “culturomics” services.