Biochemistry Professor Rajesh Nagarajan and his lab have won a National Institutes of Health Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award, also called MIRA. This is the first time that an Idaho lab has won a MIRA grant.
The award includes nearly $350,000 per year in research funding over five years, totaling over $1.7 million. It will provide open-ended support for Nagarajan’s work investigating molecules that inhibit communication between bacteria. The project has significant implications for pharmaceutical development.
“We are incredibly proud of Rajesh for receiving the MIRA award — a first for Boise State and the State of Idaho,” said Nancy Glenn, vice president of research and economic development at Boise State. “This recognition not only reflects the caliber of research talent we have on our campus, but also affirms the impact of their work on students, our community and the broader field. Awards like this provide valuable capacity building, empowering scholars to pursue bold ideas and create meaningful opportunities for student involvement and success.”
Not a typical research grant
Normally, researchers applying for NIH grants propose a set of research aims that will remain fixed throughout the project. Grant funding is then awarded based on the merit of the project’s aims and the researcher’s likelihood of achieving them.
This is not the case for MIRA. Instead, funding is awarded based on applicants’ past track record and their potential to advance the field in the next five years. As such, MIRA is awarded to the principal investigator’s research program and not tied to any specific research aim. MIRA differs from a regular NIH research grant in that it provides flexibility for the investigator to change their research directions as projects evolve.
The NIH writes on its website that, “The goal of MIRA is to increase the efficiency of NIGMS funding by providing investigators with greater stability and flexibility, thereby enhancing scientific productivity and the chances for important breakthroughs.”
How bacteria talk
Single-celled organisms like bacteria communicate using chemical signals through a process called quorum sensing. These signals facilitate cell counting in the bacterial population. Bacteria turn on virulence traits only after a quorum population is achieved.
“Whenever there is a communication, there is a speaker and a listener,” Nagarajan said. “[In bacteria] there is an enzyme that makes the signal — that’s the speaker — and a protein that listens to the signal.”
Each species of bacteria produces its own unique signal, contributing its own biochemical signature to the environment. At the same time, bacteria “listen” for other similar signals to count their local population.
Nagarajan likens quorum sensing to listening closely in a crowded tourist destination, like the Eiffel Tower. If you hear lots of English words in the conversations around you, then you know there are other English speakers nearby.
This rudimentary communication between bacteria affects their behavior. A single bacterium stands little chance against the human immune system, so bacteria wait until their population reaches a certain threshold. Once they detect a large enough population of similar bacteria nearby, they all work together to attack their host.
Silencing bacteria
Nagarajan’s lab studies the mechanism of quorum sensing signal synthesis with an end goal to block signal production, effectively silencing bacteria. The implications of this work are significant.
In the long-term, Nagarajan’s research into enzyme inhibitors could inform novel antimicrobial drug development. Drugs that prevent quorum sensing would render infectious bacteria harmless without killing them. That’s essential because treatments that kill bacteria, like antibiotics, put evolutionary pressure on the species to adapt and become more antibiotic-resistant.
The research in Nagarajan’s lab will lead to more effective treatments for bacterial infection.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R35GM158017. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.