Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded a $216,098 Project Grant to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) on May 21, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855). The five-year project, extending through April 30, 2031, supports research and mentoring focused on understanding how environmental factors—particularly indoor humidity—influence the virome and microbiome in relation to respiratory infection risk across pediatric populations.

The grant delivers research services that leverage two existing National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded randomized controlled trials conducted in Boston, Massachusetts (n=247 children) and Kintampo, Ghana (n=800 children) to investigate biological pathways through which humidity modulates infection risk, including microbiome and virome modulation, host immune alterations, and respiratory virus exposure. The project utilizes hybrid-capture-based viral metagenomics sequencing of built environment and nasal samples to distinguish school versus home acquisition of respiratory viral infections in school-age children. Equal emphasis is placed on mentoring activities designed to develop the next generation of patient-oriented researchers in environmental health, microbiome, and virome research domains. These research and mentoring services are performed at MGH's Research Management Division in Boston, Massachusetts.