Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded $111,342 to the University of Florida Division of Sponsored Research on December 3, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to support a project titled "Elucidating the Antiviral Mechanisms of OAS Family Innate Immune Sensors." This F31 fellowship grant, with a completion date of June 14, 2028, funds research conducted in Jupiter, Florida that seeks to uncover the molecular mechanisms and RNA substrates recognized by oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS) family proteins in activating innate immune responses against viral infections.

The research will advance understanding of how OAS proteins sense viral nucleic acids and trigger antiviral defenses through the OAS-RNase L innate immune pathway. The project will employ three complementary research aims to characterize how OAS3 recognizes double-stranded RNA through multivalent interactions and how OAS1, OAS2, and OASL recognize single-stranded RNA substrates to elicit antiviral activity independent of RNase L activation. This fundamental research directly addresses the urgent need to define viral-immune system interfaces and develop enhanced antiviral response mechanisms in the context of emerging pandemic threats.