Federal Grant Award Summary

Harvard Medical School received a $125,000 Project Grant award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), effective April 1, 2026, with a completion date of March 31, 2028. The award supports the development and deployment of bacterial transcription factor (TF) biosensors to accelerate pharmaceutical biocatalyst engineering. The project addresses manufacturing bottlenecks in drug production by creating chemical biosensors that enable enzyme screening over 10,000 times faster than traditional evaluation methods. The research leverages parallel assay technologies, including automation equipment at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to simultaneously measure over 50,000 TF biosensors through a data-driven methodology.

The grant-funded research comprises three primary activities: TF discovery, TF engineering, and TF application. Aim 1 focuses on discovering drug-responsive TF scaffolds through parallel assays measuring interactions between multidrug regulators and pharmaceuticals. Aim 2 addresses the engineering of highly specific biosensors for enzyme screening applications. Aim 3 advances the application of TFs from qualitative to quantitative enzyme activity screening. These deliverables directly support the development of bench-scale parallel reporter assays designed to accelerate enzyme engineering for robust pharmaceutical manufacturing and help mitigate medication shortages affecting patient access to life-saving treatments.