Systematic phenotyping and endotyping in viral infections in the young lung (spin vinyl)

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute awarded the Regents of the University of Michigan a $2.858 million Cooperative Agreement under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) on September 15, 2026.

The University of Michigan will serve as the Clinical Coordinating Center for SPIN VINYL (Systematic Phenotyping and Endotyping in Viral Infections in the Young Lung), a multi-center consortium establishing a harmonized U.S. cohort of 1,500 children aged 0 to 24 months hospitalized with viral lower respiratory tract infections across nine sites. The program will deeply phenotype participants during admission and follow outcomes through at least age 4 to 5 years, integrating clinical trajectories, lung function physiology, imaging, exposome data, objective activity and sleep monitoring, and multi-omics approaches to define severity endotypes and prognostic signatures that explain critical illness and later morbidity. During the UG3 planning phase, the steering committee will approve common protocols, standard operating procedures, training, and centralized biospecimen workflows. Five clinical centers—University of Michigan, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Arkansas Children's Hospital, University of Colorado Anschutz, and University of California San Francisco—and four subsites will execute implementation, supported by the Data and Analytics Coordinating Center at the University of Utah.

Place of performance is Ann Arbor, Michigan. The period of performance runs through August 31, 2027. The obligation amount is $2.858 million.

Abstract

Viral lower respiratory tract infections (VLRTIS) are the leading cause of hospitalization in infants and toddlers, many of whom develop severe acute disease and/or later sequelae-including recurrent wheeze, asthma, impaired lung growth, sleep disruption, and neurocognitive effects. Biological and environmental drivers that distinguish resilience from vulnerability remain poorly defined. The spin vinyl (systematic phenotyping and endotyping in viral infections in the young lung) consortium will establish a harmonized, multi-center U.S. Cohort of 1500 children aged 0-24 months hospitalized with vlrti (bronchiolitis, pneumonia, pediatric ards) across nine sites, deeply phenotype participants during admission, and follow outcomes through at least age 4-5 years. Integrated clinical trajectories, lung function physiology, imaging, exposome, objective activity/sleep monitoring, and multi-omics approaches will define severity endotypes and prognostic signatures that explain who becomes critically ILL and who develops later morbidity. During the UG3 phase, the steering committee will approve the common protocol, standard operating procedures, training, and centralized biospecimen workflows through a dedicated biorepository. In the UH3 implementation phase, five clinical centers (university of michigan [clinical coordinating center], children's hospital of philadelphia, arkansas children's hospital, university of colorado anschutz, and university of california SAN francisco) and 4 subsites (nationwide children's hospital, children's national, johns hopkins all children's hospital, and texas children's) in conjunction with the data and analytics coordinating center at the university of utah will execute aim 1: to establish a multicenter longitudinal cohort and biorepository purpose-built for early-life vlrti, with structured long-term follow-up. Aim 2 defines host-pathogen-microbiome immune programs using paired airway and blood metagenomics, bulk/single-cell transcriptomics, proteomics, phip-SEQ serology/autoantibodies, and sctcr/BCR with incite-SEQ; multi-omic factor analysis and longitudinal modeling link cellular programs to outcomes and nominate modifiable pathways. Aim 3 will identify host and microbial determinants of short- and long-term outcomes and train validated prognostic classifiers. Integrated signatures will be distilled into parsimonious, clinically deployable protein/transcript panels to enable precision risk stratification and guide future therapeutic and preventive strategies. Four mechanistic projects will 1) uncover biological mechanisms of corticosteroid responsiveness, 2) determine the impact of air pollution on risk and outcomes of vlrti, 3) identify the molecular subphenotypes underlying preterm infants' vulnerability to vlrti, and 4) define links between vlrti-induced endothelial injury and mitochondrial dysfunction and long- term outcomes. Spin vinyl will deliver mechanistic insight and actionable biomarkers to reduce the lifelong burden of pediatric respiratory disease. Data, images, and biospecimens will be broadly shared through nhlbi-designated repositories and a public "vinylome" portal to accelerate discovery and translation.