Project Grant P20GM162339

The University of Oklahoma received a $2.55 million Project Grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) beginning May 15, 2026, through January 31, 2031. This NIH Phase I COBRE (Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence) award establishes the Oklahoma Center of Immunoengineering (OCIE), which delivers integrated research infrastructure, training, and collaborative services to advance immunoengineering and omics data science research in Oklahoma. The center provides two primary research cores: the Immunomodulation Technology Core (IMTC) and the Omics Data Science Core (ODSC), which furnish specialized facilities, instrumentation, analytical tools, training programs, and access to emerging immunoengineering technologies to support research on cancer, viral infection, diabetes, and other immunologically-rooted diseases.

OCIE's services address a critical gap in Oklahoma's research ecosystem by consolidating previously scattered immunoengineering resources and expertise into a coordinated network. The center delivers end-to-end technical services, mentoring, and collaboration support to research project leaders and other immunoengineering researchers, leveraging advances in machine learning, parallel computing, network analysis, and data visualization to analyze complex omics datasets and develop novel computational models. Through this centralized infrastructure investment, OCIE supports both the immediate research productivity of its users and the long-term career development of the immunoengineering research workforce across the state.