The School of Dental Medicine has received a $7.38 million grant from the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create a new microbiome research facility.

The grant will fund creation of a 4,000-square-foot facility in renovated space on the South Campus. Called the UB Microbiome Center Gnotobiotic Animal Research Facility, it will train scientists in how to use gnotobiotic (germ-free) mice for research and provide a safe and effective space for ongoing research into the oral microbiome. By studying the oral microbiome in depth, researchers can better understand systemic diseases.

“The human mouth hosts a vast number of microorganisms — more than 700 different species. The effects of the oral microbiome on human health and pathology have become increasingly clear over the past two decades,” says Keith Kirkwood, senior associate dean for research and Centennial Endowed Professor in the Department of Oral Biology who is principal investigator overseeing the renovation of the facility.

“The oral microbiome has been associated with systemic diseases ranging from inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer to osteoporosis and heart disease,” Kirkwood explains. “Studying mice in a germ-free environment will enable us to understand how to more effectively treat and, hopefully, move closer to cures for these often-intractable diseases.”

The NIH research grant marks one of only a handful of this type and amount awarded to a U.S. dental school. Operational within five years, the facility will serve as the only one of its kind in the region and will be accessible to research teams throughout UB, including the School of Dental Medicine, the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, all other basic sciences and health sciences units at UB, along with Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and other regional universities.

“Receiving an NIH grant of this magnitude speaks to UB’s reputation as one of the top research universities in the country and also to the dental school’s commitment to cutting-edge research,” says Marcelo Araujo, dean of the dental school. “It will enable us to work closely with other disciplines across the university, as well as our community partners and other universities.”

There is a great need for this kind of facility in Western New York. The closest one is at the Cleveland Clinic, about 350 miles away, notes Kirkwood, who oversaw the renovation of a similar facility at the Medical University of South Carolina when he served as a professor and associate dean for research in the dental school there prior to returning to UB in 2017. Kirkwood began his academic career at UB as an assistant professor of periodontics in 2000 before taking faculty positions with other institutions beginning in 2003.

The UB facility will build upon the capacities of the current Microbiome Center, which was established in 2012 by Robert J. Genco, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Oral Biology, Periodontics and Microbiology, who died in March 2019.

Lauded as the “father of oral science,” Genco was widely considered the world’s leading periodontal disease researcher and pioneer in advancing the understanding of oral health’s impact on overall health, Kirkwood notes. This new center will serve as a tribute to him.

Genco’s lab was responsible for numerous findings, including identification of bacteria responsible for gum disease and determining that smoking, osteoporosis and stress are all risk factors for periodontal infections.

Since 2020, the center has been directed by Patricia Diaz, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the dental school and the recently appointed Sunstar Robert J. Genco Endowed Chair. She and her team of researchers have been investigating the interactions between the oral microbiome and systemic disease.

“I’m extremely proud of all that Dr. Diaz and Dr. Kirkwood have already accomplished with the Microbiome Center since Dr. Genco’s passing,” Araujo says. “I know that this new facility will expand the center’s scope and help researchers move toward ameliorating devastating diseases and disorders that affect millions of Americans.”

Currently, the Microbiome Center has three separate research focuses: oral-systematic diseases, bacterial pathogenesis and microbial-associated cancer biology. Since its inception, the center has participated in a number of successful clinical trials, several of which have resulted in approval of products tested from the Federal Drug Administration.

The new facility will be a self-contained space with no bacteria or viruses. To study these microbes effectively, researchers prefer to use gnotobiotic animal models. If raised in a controlled environment where their microbial exposure is managed, the mice allow scientists to understand how different bacteria impact health in a more reliable way.

“The gnotobiotic facility would be transformative to these investigations, allowing the interrogation of host-pathogen interactions in wild-type and genetically modified, germ-free animal models,” Kirkwood says.

UB is planning the facility in consultation with architectural and engineering firms with extensive experience in biomedical laboratory design and green design principles. Construction is expected to begin next year.

Along with Kirkwood, the project management team includes Jennifer Perick, director of veterinary and laboratory animal services, who will serve as the facilities manager, and Paul Gareis, assistant director of facilities design and construction, who will serve as project manager. The dental school also is working with consultants from Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Rutgers University to facilitate training of staff and faculty.

“When the facility is up and running, it will serve as a unique training ground for the next generation of scientists,” Kirkwood says. “Having access to this type of research will make them very competitive in their careers.”

Kirkwood notes that Venu Govindaraju, vice president for research and economic development, and other top UB administrators have provided unwavering support since the beginning talks about creating the facility.

“Establishing this new gnotobiotic research facility marks a pivotal era for UB and the field of oral epidemiology as a whole,” Govindaraju says. “It is a tribute to all scientists — past, present and future — whose work advances the understanding, treatment and management of diseases.”  

In addition, having this available at UB will facilitate future faculty recruitments, including endowed chairs, who have interest in this type of research, Kirkwood says.

 “When I think of this center, what comes to mind is the famous saying from “Field of Dreams”: ‘Build it and they will come,’” Kirkwood says. “This facility will attract top-notch researchers from across the region and lead to crucial discoveries. In addition, its ability to move us into a new level of research would contribute to UB’s ambition to become one of the top 25 public research universities in the country.”