Project Grant F32AI183770
- This $466,125 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (CFDA 93.855 - Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research) will support research to elucidate the molecular process of orthopox virus entry, including the MPXV virus that caused recent global outbreaks. The research team at New York University will conduct in vitro infections to identify and characterize the interactions between viral and cellular proteins during virus attachment and entry, as well...
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded a $547,988 Project Grant under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to the University of Pittsburgh to develop a novel monkeypox vaccine. The project aims to genetically engineer a replication-inducible version of the ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine to retain immunogenicity while reducing adverse side effects. The modified vaccine will be tested using microneedle patch delivery. This work seeks to...
- This Project Grant award of $254,478 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (CFDA 93.855 Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research) supports research to determine the mechanism of resistance for lead peptide-phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PPMO) compounds against the bacterial pathogens Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Burkholderia cepacia complex. PPMOs are a new class of antibacterial compounds that have shown promise in killing a variety of...
- This $228,435 federal Project Grant was awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) on January 16, 2025. The grant supports research to uncover the mechanisms enabling the cross-species jumps of viruses, such as the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and monkeypox (mpox) epidemic, focusing on the Myxoma virus (MYXV) as a model system. The research aims to study the evolution and host adaptation of MYXV,...
- This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (CFDA 93.855 - Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research) provides $831,235 to researchers at the University of Southern California to explore a key nucleotide synthesis enzyme as a potential target for developing broad-spectrum antiviral therapies. The researchers aim to inhibit this enzyme to deplete nucleotide supply and restore antiviral immune responses, which could impede the replication of viruses...
- This Project Grant award of $146,922 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research CFDA 93.855 program, supports multidisciplinary studies on overcoming SARS-CoV-2 main protease drug resistance and fitness costs. The research aims to understand how resistance mutations, such as E166V, confer resistance to the FDA-approved antiviral Paxlovid and impact viral fitness, in order to inform the strategic design of...
- This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), provides $408,375 in funding to Oregon State University (OSU) from July 2025 to June 2027. The goal of this research is to deepen the understanding of phage-bacteria interaction mechanisms and assess the fitness costs and trade-offs between phage resistance and antibiotic resistance in Mycobacterium abscessus, an emerging and...
- This $416,625 project grant awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) aims to enhance wastewater surveillance capabilities for rapidly detecting monkeypox (mpox) variants. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) will develop a wastewater-based intelligence model and data analytics platform to provide real-time community infection monitoring and viral evolution tracking for mpox....
- This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), provides $243,713 to the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMASS Medical) to conduct a comprehensive analysis of how combinations of mutations in the MPRO enzyme from SARS-CoV-2 impact drug resistance to the COVID-19 treatment nirmatrelvir. The project aims to systematically investigate the interdependence of...
- The Research Foundation for the State University of New York at Stony Brook University will conduct research from August 1, 2022 to July 31, 2025 to inhibit Powassan virus persistence and spread to neuronal compartments under a $1.9 million Project Grant from the Department of the Army Medical Command. The research is funded through the Military Medical Research and Development program (CFDA 12.420), which supports biomedical research to improve military and public health outcomes. Specifically,...
ANTIVIRAL RESISTANCE TO ACYCLIC PHOSPHONATES IN ORTHOPOXVIRUSES - PROJECT SUMMARY MPOX, CAUSED BY THE ORTHOPOXVIRUS MPOX VIRUS (MPXV), BECAME AN INFECTIOUS DISEASE OF WORLDWIDE CONCERN FOLLOWING A 2022 GLOBAL OUTBREAK IN WHICH MORE THAN 80,000 CASES WERE CONFIRMED IN MORE THAN 100 COUNTRIES, MOSTLY IN COUNTRIES OUTSIDE THE ENDEMIC REGIONS OF WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA. AS REPORTED IN APRIL 2024, THERE ARE CURRENTLY RECORD NUMBERS OF INFECTIONS IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, NEARLY 400 SUSPECT CASES REPORTED EACH WEEK. THE CIRCULATING STRAIN APPEARS PARTICULARLY DEADLY, WITH ~1 IN 10 PATIENTS DYING, APPEARS TO SPREAD IN NEW WAYS, AND IS ABLE TO EVADE DIAGNOSTIC TESTING. BECAUSE OF THIS AND THE RISK OF FUTURE OUTBREAKS AND GLOBAL SPREAD OF MPOX, THERE IS A NEED TO BE PREPARED THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANTIVIRAL THERAPIES TARGETING MPXV. CURRENT THERAPIES, COMPRISED OF TECOVIRIMAT (TPOXX), CIDOFOVIR (CDV), AND BRINCIDOFOVIR, HAVE CONCERNS WITH TOXICITY AND POTENTIAL FOR EMERGENCE OF DRUG RESISTANCE. THEREFORE, THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO MPOX TREATMENTS THAT ARE BOTH HIGHLY POTENT AND WELL-TOLERATED. RESEARCH DONE BY OUR LAB HAS SHOWN THAT THE REPURPOSED COMPOUNDS TENOFOVIR ALAFENAMIDE (TAF) AND ADEFOVIR DIPIVOXIL (ADF), WHICH ARE ACYCLIC NUCLEOSIDE PHOSPHONATES, INHIBIT MPXV. HOWEVER, THESE COMPOUNDS SHOULD BE TESTED FOR THE POTENTIAL FOR ANTIVIRAL RESISTANCE TO EMERGE BEFORE THEY COULD BE USED IN ANIMAL STUDIES AND CLINICAL TRIALS. IN THIS PROPOSAL, MY GOALS ARE TO (AIM 1) IDENTIFY AND VALIDATE MUTATIONS IN ORTHOPOXVIRUSES THAT CONFER RESISTANCE TO ACYCLIC PHOSPHONATES, (AIM 2) CHARACTERIZE THE BIOCHEMICAL MECHANISMS OF INHIBITION BY AND RESISTANCE TO ACYCLIC PHOSPHONATES, AND (AIM 3) EVALUATE COMBINATION THERAPIES TO PREVENT THE EMERGENCE OF RESISTANCE. THESE STUDIES WILL REVEAL HOW ORTHOPOXVIRUSES EVOLVE RESISTANCE TO TAF AND ADF, GIVE INSIGHTS INTO DOWNSTREAM STUDIES TO MINIMIZE POTENTIAL FOR RESISTANCE, AND FURTHER MY TRAINING AND SKILLS AS AN INDEPENDENT RESEARCH SCIENTIST.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $80.2k | 9/11/25 |