Pathology Researcher Receives NIH Funds for Human Microbiome Project

Assistant Professor of Pathology and Medicine Zhiheng Pei, MD, PhD, will receive $1 million NIH funding for the phase 1 study of a pilot demonstration project on microbiome and esophageal cancer as part of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), one of the research initiatives outlined in the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research as a New Pathway to Discovery.

The Human Microbiome Project is intended to enable a comprehensive characterization of the totality of microorganisms and their genomes in the human body. Dr. Pei's work focuses on the type of cancer linked to heartburn due to gastroesophageal reflux diseases, the fastest rising malignancy in the United States. The recent increases in this cancer cannot be explained by any known environmental or host factors. He postulates that gastroesophageal reflux alters the esophageal microbiome and chronic exposure to an abnormal (altered) microbiome is carcinogenic. Initial research has shown that patients carrying particular types of microbiomes are more likely to have the early stages of esophageal adenocarcinoma than those who do not. Dr. Pei's team will sample the oral cavity, esophagus, and stomach to study the relationship between the microbiome from these body sites and esophageal cancer.

The research group of Dr. Pei is one of 15 teams selected by the NIH to conduct pilot demonstration projects on behalf of the Human Microbiome Project, along with Dr. Martin J. Blaser, the Frederick H. King Professor of Internal Medicine, chair of the Department of Medicine, and professor of microbiology, who is conducting another HMP study on the evaluation of the cutaneous microbiome in psoriasis.