I-Corps: Characterization of the Vaginal Microbiome Through Sampling Kits

I-Corps：通过采样套件表征阴道微生物组

• 批准号: 1811288
• 负责人: Rhonda Shrader
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1811288&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Characterization; Vaginal; Microbiome; Through

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to enable wider adoption of vaginal microbiome testing solutions. The most common vaginal dysbiosis is bacterial vaginosis (BV) which affects 30% of women at any given time. Having BV puts women at risk for increased incidence of sexually transmitted infections, urinary tract infections, and, if pregnant, preterm birth, low birth weight, and spontaneous abortion. Yet, most women don't even know they have BV. BV is only treated if it is symptomatic, but half of all cases are asymptomatic. Therefore, there are millions of women with BV, who are at risk for infections and adverse pregnancy outcomes, but are unaware of their risk. This technology would allow for discrete at-home testing that includes an easy to understand report that can be shared directly with the patient's physician.This I-Corps project will explore the commercial potential of an at-home sampling kits for analyzing the vaginal microbiome (bacteria). The vision is to empower women with new knowledge about their health, and drive innovative care around female related bacterial disorders. The core of our technology is twofold - DNA sequencing and bioinformatics. For DNA sequencing, our technology uses Illumina sequencers to analyze a vaginal bacterial sample to attain part of the bacterial genomes. A proprietary bioinformatics pipeline is then used to categorize and quantify the bacteria present in the sample. Classifying the bacteria then allows the user to better understand how they can get and stay healthy.

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使阴道微生物组测试解决方案更广泛地采用。最常见的阴道营养不良是细菌性阴道病（BV），在任何给定时间都会影响30％的女性。拥有BV会使女性有可能增加性传播感染，尿路感染的发病率，如果怀孕，早产，低出生体重和自发流产。但是，大多数女性甚至都不知道自己有BV。 仅在有症状的情况下治疗BV，但在所有情况下有一半是无症状的。因此，有数百万名BV的妇女有感染和不良怀孕后果的风险，但没有意识到自己的风险。该技术将允许离散的家用测试，其中包括易于理解的报告，可以直接与患者的医生共享。该I-Corps项目将探索用于分析阴道微生物组（细菌）的家庭抽样套件的商业潜力。 愿景是使妇女能够拥有有关其健康知识的新知识，并围绕与女性相关的细菌疾病进行创新护理。我们技术的核心是双重的 - DNA测序和生物信息学。对于DNA测序，我们的技术使用Illumina测序仪分析阴道细菌样品以获得一部分细菌基因组。然后使用专有生物信息学管道对样品中存在的细菌进行分类和量化。然后，对细菌进行分类，可以使用户更好地了解他们如何获得和保持健康。