Many ecosystems are devoid of oxygen and the resident anaerobic microorganisms play important roles in human and animal health and global biogeochemical cycles. Due to their extreme oxygen sensitivity, slow-growth rates, and complex nutritional requirements, isolation and cultivation of strict anaerobes are especially challenging and require specialized equipment and experience. Most current microbiome studies rely on culture-independent strategies where data generated from (meta)genomic sequencing are analyzed to predict metabolism, physiology, and ecology. However, the isolation and propagation of pure cultures unlocks the potential to study resident microbes directly. Therefore, culture-based functional characterization of anaerobic bacteria is taking Oklahoma researchers to a higher understanding that is critical for scientific progress. Hence, each OCMR project involves anaerobes and relies on Anaerobic Core capacity.

 

Anaerobic Core Director: Dr. Mostafa Elshahed

The Anaerobic Core Director is Dr. Mostafa Elshahed, a professor with more than 25 years of experience handling strictly anaerobic organisms and a research program focused on anaerobic habitats using culture-dependent and culture-independent strategies. The Anaerobic Core employs a PhD-level Manager and a staff scientist. The Director and Manager consult with researchers, provide anaerobic culture expertise, and maintain equipment. Core services include 1) anaerobic culturomics to enable high throughput culture isolation under a wide range of growth conditions and oxygen concentrations, 2) targeted enrichment to isolate specific microbes based on phenotypic traits, 3) sequence-guided culture isolation using nanobody-tags to specific organisms followed by cell sorting and targeted cultivation, 4) culture storage and record keeping, and 5) downstream services including bioinformatics consultation, PCR-amplicon and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry-based identification, genome sequencing and automated annotation, metagenomic and meta-transcriptomic analysis, 16S rRNA gene-based microbial community analysis, and sequence submission to database repositories. These services are widely available to Oklahoma researchers and directly benefit OCMR research projects.

 

Lab Space in Venture One Building

With construction and renovation underway in the Venture One building at Oklahoma State University, a 1100 sq. ft. laboratory space in Venture One will be housing the Anaerobic Microbiology Core. This restricted card access facility has controlled and continuously monitored temperature and humidity with positive pressure. Ample bench spaces in the facility allows for new equipment and personnel and office space. 

 

Specific Aims

The Anerobic Research Core features five specific aims in support of achieving the goals for the Anaerobic Microbiology Core. The Specific Aims are to provide the following services for Research Project Leaders and microbiome scientists throughout the state:

1. Anaerobic culturomics to enable high throughput culture isolation under a wide range of growth conditions and oxygen concentrations,
2. Targeted enrichment to isolate specific microbes based on phenotypic traits,
3. Sequence-guided culture isolation using nanobody-tags to specific organisms followed by anaerobic cell sorting and targeted cultivation,
4. Culture storage and record keeping, and
5. Downstream services for culture identification and characterization, microbial community analysis, and genomics.