Pilot & Feasibility Program - Microbiome

Pilot & Feasibility Program - Microbiome is sponsored by UCLA Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center. Provides funding for innovative microbiome research proposals involving services from the center's core facility.

Pilot & Feasibility Program - Microbiome | UCLA Health Pilot & Feasibility Program The UCLA Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center invites applications for the Pilot and Feasibility Core Voucher Program. Funding will be available for multiple innovative microbiome research proposals involving services from a center core facility. We are no longer accepting applications for the pilot and feasibility study awards.

Integrating microbiome research into undergraduate education Investigator: Tejas Bouklas, PhD Funding: $10,000; January 1 - December 31, 2026 Core usage: Biorepository, Microbiome Dr. Bouklas is a broadly trained microbiologist focusing on host-pathogen interactions.

She provides experiential learning and mentoring opportunities to her students, who conduct research in her classroom on phage therapy (HHMI SEA-PHAGES), antimicrobial discovery (Tiny Earth Initiative, CaleDNA), and most recently their gut/oral microbiome (Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center). Bouklas Lab Neural interoception of alterations in the gut microbiome Investigator: Elaine Y.

Hsiao, PhD Co-investigators: Arpana Church, PhD; Celine Son, PhD Funding: $10,000; January 1 - December 31, 2026 Dr. Hsiao leads a laboratory studying fundamental interactions between the microbiome, brain and behavior, and their applications to neurological disorders.

Inspired by the interplay between the microbiota and nervous system, the Hsiao laboratory is mining the human microbiota for microbial modulators of host neuroactive molecules, investigating the impact of microbiota-immune system interactions on neurodevelopment and examining the microbiome as an interface between gene-environment interactions in neurological diseases.

Hsiao Lab Deciphering the effect of phage-encoded bile acid metabolism in the human gut microbiome Investigator: Antonio Tinoco Valencia, PhD Funding: $10,000; January 1 - December 31, 2026 Core usage: Biorepository; Microbiome The overarching goal of the Tinoco group is to discover, control, and engineer microbial chemistry to uncover how microbiomes affect human and ecosystem health.

We bridge this gap by integrating interdisciplinary approaches taken from chemistry, enzymology, microbiology, and biological engineering. They also apply bioinformatic and AI tools to help inform their discoveries and hypotheses. Tinoco Lab Does the microbiome mediate impact of scheduled feeding Investigator: Christopher S.

Colwell, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Funding: $10,000; May 1, 2025 - April 30, 2026 Since joining UCLA, Dr. Colwell's research has focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying circadian rhythms in mammals. Dysfunction in the timing these daily cycles is a key symptom in a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Better understanding the basic biology of this timing system should result in new therapies to improve the quality of life of these patients and the people who care for them.

Dr. Colwell Profile Dysbiosis of the skin microbiome in patients with dermatomyositis Investigator: Huiyang Li, PhD, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology Co-investigator: Sangmee Bae, MD, Department of Rheumatology Funding: $10,000; May 1, 2025 - April 30, 2026 The current research in Dr. Li’s lab focuses on understanding the human microbiome, the collective genome of trillions of microorganisms residing in the human body, and its interactions with the host in relation to human health and diseases.

Using multi-disciplinary approaches, including genomics, metagenomics, bioinformatics, high-throughput sequencing, microbiology, and biochemistry, the Li Lab aims to identify the molecular mechanism of the human microbiome in health and disease pathogenesis and to develop diagnostic markers and therapeutics for microorganism-related human diseases.

By combining computational and experimental approaches, the ultimate goal of the research is to understand the human-microbiome symbiotic system at both molecular level and systems level. Dr. Li's Profile Effects of reactive oxygen species from a novel sunscreen on skin microbiome Investigator: Paul S.

Weiss, PhD, Chemistry & Biochemistry; Bioengineering; Materials Science & Engineering Co-investigator: Ajoa Addae, Graduate student researcher Funding: $10,000; May 1, 2025 - April 30, 2026 Dr. Weiss' interdisciplinary research group includes chemists, physicists, biologists, materials scientists, mathematicians, bioengineers, electrical and mechanical engineers, computer scientists, clinicians, and physician scientists.

They focus on the ultimate limits of miniatu­rization, exploring the atomic-scale chemical, physical, optical, mechanical, electronic, and spin properties of surfaces, interfaces, supramolecular, and biomolecular assemblies. They develop new techniques to expand the applicability and chemical specificity of scanning probe microscopies.

They apply these and other tools to study self- and directed assembly, and molecular and nanoscale devices. They advance nanofabrication down to ever smaller scales and greater chemical specificity to operate and to test functional molecular assemblies, and to connect to the chemical and biological worlds in neuroscience, gene editing, cancer immunotherapy, tissue engineering, cellular agriculture, and the microbiome.

Paul Weiss Lab Investigation of the regulatory effects induced by the integration of nanoparticle Investigator: Yu Huang, PhD, Department of Materials Science and Engineering Co-investigator: Yang Liu, PhD, Department of Statistics Funding: $10,000; May 1, 2025 - April 30, 2026 Core usage: Integrative biostatistics and bioinformatics; Microbiome Dr. Huang’s group explores the unique technological opportunities that result from the structure and assembly of nanoscale building blocks.

Taking advantage of the unique roles of nanoscale surfaces and interfaces, our group is creating methodologies to apply the latest developments in nanoscale materials and nanotechnology for probing nanoscale processes that can fundamentally impact a wide range of technologies including materials synthesis, catalysis, fuel cells, and devices applications.

Huang Research Group Leveraging M13-phage-synthesized silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) for combatting resistant bacterial infections and their impact on the microbiome Investigator: Irene Chen, A.

Chen, MD, PhD, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Co-investigator: Katherine McCarthy, Graduate student Funding: $10,000; May 1, 2025 - April 30, 2026 Dr. Chen's laboratory studies life-like biochemical systems to understand their fundamental properties and address emerging challenges in biotechnology and infectious disease.

Their focus is biomolecular design and evolution in two nanoscale systems: simple synthetic cells and bacteriophages (phages). The Chen Laboratory The microbiome and immune response in acute Dengue infection in the Amazon of Peru Investigator: Courtney DeCan, MD, MPH, Department of Medicine Co-investigator: Jennifer A.

Fulcher, PhD, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine Funding: $10,000; May 1, 2025 - April 30, 2026 Core usage: Biorepository; Microbiome Dr. DeCan's primary areas of clinical practice are the treatment and prevention of obesity and diet related chronic disease.

Her practice focuses on using nutrition therapy for the prevention and treatment of cancer, gastrointestinal conditions, obesity, obesity-associated diseases, and metabolic conditions including diabetes, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease. Her research focuses on addressing health disparities in the prevention and treatment of obesity and diet related comorbidities in the safety net setting.

She also has an interest in global health and has worked throughout Latin & South America.