Federal Grant Award Summary

The University of Chicago received a $675,000 CAREER (Directional) Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Physics under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) for the period April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2031. The award supports development of a dynamical systems framework for understanding systemic inflammatory responses—organism-wide immune flares characterized by cytokine storms and immune cell infiltration into tissues and organs. The primary deliverables include: (1) experimental studies using zebrafish as a model biological system to trace immune responses at the genomic level; (2) novel artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) computational tools to simulate inflammatory responses and predict intervention strategies; and (3) high-throughput quantitative genomics methods that advance biotechnology capabilities for immune system analysis.

The project will produce integrated research outputs that combine traditional physics and biology analytical methods with cutting-edge AI technologies to characterize the phase space of immune system states and identify tipping points that drive runaway inflammatory responses. Deliverables also include educational initiatives designed to strengthen the scientific workforce at the expanding interfaces of physics, computational sciences, and biology, with broader impacts extending to the biomedical research community and adjacent fields. The research addresses fundamental gaps in understanding how complex immune system interactions produce predictable versus divergent inflammatory pathways.