Project Grant HDTRA11310014

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences, an operating division of the Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health, awarded Arizona State University $404,180 on July 13, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to investigate how bacterial predation via the type VI secretion system shapes ecological and evolutionary dynamics in microbial communities. The D'Souza Lab will study T6SS-mediated antagonism in two bacterial...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Biological Sciences (CFDA 47.074) program provides $1,035,238 to the University of Utah to study the mechanisms by which Pseudomonas plant pathogens use specialized molecular "killing machines" called tailocins to target and eliminate competing bacteria without harming their own strain. The research aims to elucidate how differences in the lipopolysaccharide composition of bacterial cell membranes confer...

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded The Trustees of The University of Pennsylvania $363,875 on September 1, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to investigate molecular mechanisms by which bacteriophages evade bacterial CRISPR-CAS immune systems. The research focuses on phage-encoded anti-CRISPR proteins, specifically ACRVA2, which inhibits the CAS12A nuclease through translation-dependent mRNA degradation. The investigator...

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco $123,147 on May 13, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to investigate jumbo bacteriophage infection mechanisms and their potential as therapeutics against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The research, conducted under the K99/R00 pathway, examines how FKZ-like jumbophages with genomes exceeding 200 kilobases evade bacterial immune...

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded Northeastern University $650,221 on June 12, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop an efficient platform for antibiotic discovery by culturing and mining uncultured bacteria. The project, titled "An Efficient Platform for Antibiotic Discovery," addresses the challenge that the vast majority of bacteria on the planet do not grow in laboratory conditions. The recipient...

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc. $987,730 on July 1, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop next-generation spectinomycin analogs that evade adenylase-based resistance mechanisms and demonstrate enhanced potency against multidrug-resistant gram-negative pathogens including carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii. The...

This $200,000 National Science Foundation project grant under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will support Colorado State University's development of phage-based biological drones to selectively target and destroy specific bacteria within biofilms. Over a two-year period from October 2022 to September 2024, the university will engineer minimal phage genomes that can deliver bacterial killing mechanisms only when a target bacterium such as Staphylococcus aureus is detected. The immediate...

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded $1.5 million to The Washington University on June 24, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop antibiotic-sparing strategies for treatment of bacterial infections caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens including carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, ESBL-producing Enterobacterales, carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa,...

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded $306,484 to Paralos Bioscience Inc. on August 10, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop a safer, more effective polymyxin B formulation for treatment of multidrug-resistant E. coli infection. Paralos Bioscience is engineering a recombinant non-infectious bacteriophage that binds a conserved antigen on gram-negative bacterial cells and carries thousands of polymyxin B molecules...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award to Bactria Pharmaceuticals LLC is providing $274,937 to develop therapeutic drugs that restore antibiotic sensitivity in bacteria that cause severe healthcare-associated infections. The goal is to combat antimicrobial resistance in gram-negative pathogens through the use of small molecule efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs). The project involves three key activities: cryo-electron microscopy to understand...