Project Grant P01AI167966

This three-year, $18.13 million project grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will fund research at the University of Washington and five sub-awardee institutions to develop broadly protective coronavirus vaccines. Under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program, the grantee and sub-awardees will pursue three outputs: tools to study coronaviruses, antibodies for treatment, and vaccine candidates. They will generate reverse genetic systems, animal models, and mutational scanning platforms. Researchers will identify conserved epitopes targeted by cross-reactive antibodies to inform structure-based antigen design. The University of Washington will combine its self-assembling protein nanoparticle display approach with computational methods to design coronavirus spike-displaying nanoparticles aiming to elicit potent and broad protective antibody responses. Nonhuman primate studies will evaluate leading vaccine candidates by year two and five against sarbecoviruses and betacoronaviruses, respectively. Technology transfer will prepare candidates for industry development. Sub-awardees include universities and research centers collaborating on specific aims.