Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded a $249,000 Project Grant under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to the Regents of the University of California at Riverside, effective February 6, 2026, with completion targeted for January 31, 2028. This award supports the development of novel technologies for single-cell proteoform profiling using top-down mass spectrometry. The research initiative generates innovative instrumentation, bioinformatics tools, and high-throughput strategies to characterize proteoforms—molecular forms of proteins containing site-specific sequence variations and post-translational modifications—at the single-cell level.

The project deliverables encompass three primary objectives: (1) expansion of proteome detection and identification capabilities through innovative instrumentation and data acquisition algorithms to establish a proteoform library for kidney single-cell profiling; (2) development of a novel platform and single-cell preparation protocols tailored for profiling dissociated kidney cells, including bioinformatics approaches for proteoform identification and discovery of cell-type-differentiating proteoform signatures; and (3) advancement of methodologies to address limitations in rare cell analysis. Using human kidney cells as the model biological system, the research approaches are designed to be generalizable to diverse cell types, with applications relevant to immunobiology and disease pathology investigations.