CF RDP Host Microbe Core Services

The Host Microbe Core (HMC) will assist and support the research base, trainees, and pilot project investigators by providing specimens, reagents, training, and services to define both the microbial and host response determinants of CF diseases in organs and tissues prioritized by the NIDDK. This Core combines the resources and expertise of specialists in CF basic and clinical microbiology, airway epithelial and immune cell biology, pathology, and microscopy to provide an integrated network of services, reflecting an evolution in the field of CF disease pathogenesis to concurrently investigate the host and pathogens. Core services available to the UW CF P30 research base include:

• Technical assistance and state-of-the-art facilities for histopathology, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization and localization of host and microbial targets, and digital imaging.
• Quantitative digital pathology and whole slide digital repository for pancreata and lungs from people with CF.
• Processing clinical, animal, and laboratory specimens for microbiome, proteome, metabolome, and transcriptome analyses, and for specific targets.
• Microbial culturing of CF specimens in formats representative of CF mucosal conditions for phenotypic, proteomic, genomic, and biochemical analyses.
• Access to strains of bacteria cultured from CF clinical fecal samples, including Escherichia coli and Bacteroides spp.
• Consultation and training in methods provided by the Core and experimental design.
• Interacting closely with the Clinical and Genomics cores to provide unified services for CF researchers

CFRTC Microbiology Core Services

The CFRTC Microbiology Core serves to organize the existing resources at the UW and SCRI into a fully accessible set of tools and reagents, provides training in special microbiology techniques, and develops new microbiology resources for CF researchers. Specifically we:

• Provide resources to investigators who want to understand the evolution of bacterial pathogens subjected to the selective pressures in the CF lung. These resources include a vast collection of lung bacterial isolates from CF patients.   REQUEST CF LUNG BACTERIAL ISOLATES
• Provide resources to investigators who want to understand the evolution of bacterial pathogens subjected to the selective pressures in the CF intestinal tract. Intestinal strains may be requested by going to the Miller Lab website.
• Provide resources and training for investigators seeking to develop new anti-bacterial therapies for the treatment of CF.
• Provide resources and training for investigators who want to assess new therapeutic approaches by using antibiotic-tolerant bacterial biofilms. Develop new tools for the study of bacterial biofilms.
• Distribute mutants of the well-studied PAO1 strain of the CF pathogen P. aeruginosa to enable rapid progress by investigators seeking to assess the significance of molecular pathways to P. aeruginosa or to study the mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance to novel agents. Mutant strains may be requested by going to the Manoil Lab website.
• Provide expert service enabling basic metabolic profiling of bacterial species or bacterial mutants.
• Develop new routine assays for antimicrobial activity testing that might better represent the susceptibilities of clinical isolates when they exist in situ.
• Provide a unique CF Core Center of Excellence poised to provide technical capabilities to aid researchers in future investigations of CF microbiology.
• Provide resources for CF investigators who want to fluorescently label bacteria for their research.

We seek to streamline these activities to speed the work of local CF researchers and make it easy for new investigators to address microbiological questions in their research. We also seek to provide services nationally, not only to provide specimens and cultures but also to provide and develop new standard assays that can be accessed by investigators anywhere to assess and compare antipseudomonal agents.

Supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIDDK P30 DK 089507) and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (SINGH19R0). Please reference these grant numbers on all publications resulting from support provided by this Core Center grant.