Active Grants

Title	Principal Investigator(s)	Major Goals
Defining the dynamics of urobiome structure and function in postmenopausal women and its role in recurrent urinary tract infection susceptibility	Nicole De Nisco	The goal of this project is to gain the foundational knowledge necessary for the rational design of effective probiotic therapies for rUTI, using state-of-the-art techniques and human cohorts to determine the function of the urinary microbiome and how it, along with the chemical environment of urine, are altered during rUTI in postmenopausal women.
Urovirulence and fimbrial regulation in Klebsiella quasipneumoniae	Nicole De Nisco	To evaluate the clinical and demographic history of women with recurrent urinary tract infections from K. quasipneumoniae compared to K Pneumoniae.

Active Grants with Other Collaborators

Title	Principal Investigator(s)	Major Goals
Bioactive adhesive material for early vaginal wall detachment in pelvic organ prolapse	Yi Hong at UT Arlington	To develop an injectable bio-adhesive made of specialized nanoparticles in the early management of pelvic floor prolapse.
Liquid Crystal Elastomer as a Dynamic Treatment of Incontinence in Women	Taylor Ware at Texas A&M University	The proposed work in this high-risk, high-reward project is designed to answer the remaining fundamental questions about the use of LCEs as artificial muscles thus, enabling a new class of medical devices capable of deforming soft tissue.
Neuromodulation of Individual Pelvic Floor Muscle Activity in Urinary Incontinence	Mario Romero-Ortega at the University of Houston/University of Phoenix	Develop novel surgical approaches to implant wireless devices in the pelvic floor muscles of aged multiparous rabbits to improve the management of urinary incontinence.
Restoring urological dysfunction in Spinal Cord Injury through multi-target neuromodulation	Mario Romero-Ortega at the University of Houston/TIRR	The goal of this proposal is to demonstrate that multi-channel sutrodes for sensing/stimulation will enable the control of micturition in SCI.
A Miniature Pig Model of Urinary Tract Infection	Subash Sarguru at Texas A&M University	To study urinary tract infections in a large animal model.

Pending Grants

Title	Principal Investigator(s)	Major Goals
Randomized controlled trial of D-mannose for the prophylaxis of recurrent urinary tract infections in post-menopausal women	Philippe Zimmern at UT Southwestern	To study the role of D-mannose in the management of recurrent urinary tract infections in post-menopausal women with the following hypotheses that (1) D-mannose will provide effective prophylaxis in post-menopausal women, (2) the prophylactic effectiveness of D-mannose supplementation is influenced by baseline urinary D-mannose levels, diet, and/or urinary pH, and (3) D-mannose will alter gut and urogenital microbiome composition.
Randomized double-blind clinical trial of methenamine hippurate versus nitrofurantoin for the prophylaxis of recurrent urinary tract infections in postmenopausal women.	Philippe Zimmern at UT Southwestern	To perform a double-blind, randomized trial to determine the efficacy of Hiprex™ prophylaxis compared to nitrofurantoin, determine urinary factors that influence efficacy with potential to further guide patient selection, and determine effects of Hiprex™ and nitrofurantoin on the gut and urogenital microbiomes.
A multicenter randomized non-inferiority trial of empiric versus culture-based antibiotic therapy for UTIs in adult women with a history of recurrent UTI	Philippe Zimmern at UT Southwestern	The proposed trial will investigate, for the first time, the intriguing possibility that empiric therapy is not inferior to culture based antibiotic therapy in the management of UTIs in women with a history of recurrent urinary tract infections. This study may change clinical practice and provide more rapid and complete relief to millions of women.
USENSE: an electrochemical biosensor for improved point-of-care urinary tract infection diagnosis	Nicole De Nisco, Prasad Shalini, Philippe Zimmern	In-clinic testing of an electronic dipstick and collection of urine for ELISA-based confirmation of PGE2 concentration in the De Nisco lab.
The impact of estrogen hormone therapy modality on urobiome dynamics in postmenopausal women	Nicole De Nisco and Philippe Zimmern	To recruit women who need vaginal or oral menopausal replacement therapy for collection of urine and swab samples, along with curating patient medical and demographic data and coordinate sample collection.
Targeted ablation of bladder-resident uropathogenic bacteria with a novel cell penetrating dye	Nicole De Nisco and Jeremiah Gassensmith at UT Dallas	To unmask location of bacteria on the surface of the bladder in bladder biopsies of women with recurrent urinary tract infections requiring treatment with surface fulguration.