Office of Naval Research: Studying Host/Gut Microbiota Responses to Stressors for Resilience

Specific objectives of this Special Notice topic are:
(1) To characterize the psychological, physiological and cognitive responses of the host and GM (behavior, organism, tissue and molecular levels) following exposure to various behavioral and physical stressors, such as: abnormal circadian cycles or living conditions (such as those found on a submarine), extreme/rapid environmental shifts (e.g., altitudinal, temperature, elevated ambient noise), fatigue, anticipatory anxiety or fear.
(2) To ascertain if specific gut microbial community members, metabolites or functions play a role in the observed host response to the stressor(s) listed above. Comparison with data obtained for different hosts may be informative in deducing microbial functions on host response. Specific attention will be focused on ‘gut-brain-axis’ routes of signaling.
(3) Support the development of novel tools for real-time analysis of microbes, the surfaces they adhere to, and microbial products in the GI tract to more closely map microbial heterogeneity and identify specific links to their function.

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