Federal Grant Award Summary

The University of Pittsburgh received a $2.16 million Project Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), awarded on April 24, 2026, with a completion date of March 31, 2031. The Pitt Center for Accelerating Phage Therapy (P-CAPT) program, performed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, develops bacteriophage therapy as a medical countermeasure against multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. This collaborative initiative unites phage therapy experts from the University of Pittsburgh, University of Southern California, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and Intralytix, Inc. to advance phage-based therapeutic approaches toward widespread clinical use.

The award supports two primary research projects and two scientific cores. Research Project 1 develops rigorous assays and novel tools to optimize phage cocktail design, while Research Project 2 establishes optimal dosing protocols using systems-based models. The Phage Core provides comprehensive phage development, standardized analysis, and current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) manufacturing services for the program. The Animal Core conducts in vivo testing of individual phages and phage cocktails using established mouse models of P. aeruginosa respiratory tract infection. These coordinated efforts establish P. aeruginosa as a model for phage therapy research and development applicable to ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacteriaceae) pathogens.