Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded a $194,160 Project Grant on April 2, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. The award supports a mentored career development project focused on understanding neutralizing antibody pressure on the evolution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants. The research will develop an in vitro model to predict mutation sites in viral variants and leverage those predictions to inform updated vaccine design strategies, addressing the public health challenge posed by emerging viral variants that evade existing population immunity.

The project, which runs through March 31, 2031, will be conducted at Columbia University Irving Medical Center under the mentorship of Dr. David Ho, an international leader in virology. The candidate, a transfusion medicine fellow with training in genomics and computational biology, will receive further instruction in biosafety level 2-compatible pseudovirus culture, mouse immunization protocols, and computational structural biology. This research initiative aims to advance understanding of pathogen evolution and improve vaccine development strategies while supporting the career development of a physician-scientist researcher in the field of infectious disease and viral immunology.