Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) awarded a Project Grant totaling $163,867 to the University of California, San Diego, effective July 1, 2026, through April 30, 2031, under the Aging Research program (CFDA 93.866). This K23 career development grant supports research aimed at discovering and classifying novel metabolite biomarkers of neurocognitive impairment (NCI) in older people with HIV (PWH) through the application of untargeted metabolomics and machine learning methods. The research leverages existing cohort data from the UC San Diego HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center and the CNS HIV Antiretroviral Therapy Effects Research (CHARTER) Study, comprising approximately 403 and 598 PWH participants respectively, to identify candidate biomarkers in fecal, cerebrospinal fluid, and plasma samples and validate findings across multiple biological matrices.

The grant funds cross-disciplinary research addressing a critical gap in NeuroHIV science by integrating metabolomics—which quantifies small molecule byproducts of metabolic processes to assess health status—with advanced data-driven analytical approaches. The research responds to recent NIH initiatives promoting the development of biotypes for HIV brain health disorders by providing unprecedented biological insights into the complex heterogeneity of NCI in older PWH, a population experiencing neurocognitive complications despite widespread viral suppression from antiretroviral therapy. This project represents a systematic effort to establish metabolite-based diagnostic and prognostic tools for understanding the synergistic effects of HIV and aging on neurological function.