Project Grant R01AI129819

This $504,596 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), will fund research to identify and characterize the molecular interactions between the bacteria Wolbachia pipientis and its insect hosts. The primary objectives are to: (1) determine the specific host protein targets of Wolbachia's ankyrin repeat-containing effector proteins, (2) assess the relevance of these...

The U.S. Department of the Army Medical Command awarded a $275,000 Project Grant (CFDA 12.355 - Pest Management and Vector Control Research) to Bio-Gene Technology LIMITED in Australia. The grant is for research and development efforts aimed at developing multi-use controlled release devices (MUW-CRDs) based on the delivery of flavocide as a next-generation protection system for controlling flying insect vectors. The 3-year grant period runs from January 10, 2025 to January 10, 2028. The...

This Project Grant award of $651,084, made by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), supports research to determine how microbes influence the response of their mosquito host to climate change, with a focus on the impacts on Hawaiian honeycreepers, an endangered bird species. The research aims to: Clarify the landscape-scale population dynamics of the mosquito vector Culex quinquefasciatus and its microbiome across an elevational gradient in Hawaii....

This $2,166,750 project grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences will fund research into the role of the gut microbiome in host adaptation to environmental xenobiotics. The University of California, Berkeley will explore how exposure to commonly used pesticides shapes the gut microbiome of the model organism C. elegans, and the long-term health consequences for the host. Researchers will characterize microbiome-assisted adaptation to...

This federal Project Grant award, valued at $214,605.00 and funded by the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310), focuses on understanding how thermally tolerant bacterial strains can contribute to shifts in insect vector capacity for plant disease transmission. The research, conducted by Emory University, aims to 1) determine whether Caballeronia bacterial strains with varying...

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $180,000 Project Grant to Regents Of The University Of Minnesota under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The University will conduct research on Wolbachia bacteria and its potential to manage arthropod pests as biological control agents. Using functional genomics, proteomics, and synthetic biology methods, the University will characterize Wolbachia proteins that may alter insect...

This $133,664 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) aims to characterize the network of vector-host-virus interactions within the Mar Chiquita Lake and Bañados del Río Dulce wetland in Argentina. The key objectives are to: 1) identify host bloodmeals in wetland mosquitoes to elucidate viral flow between resident and migratory birds, 2) analyze prior exposure of...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), provides $828,820 to Weill Medical College of Cornell University to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which the commensal bacterium Enterococcus faecalis can translocate from the gut and cause life-threatening systemic infections. The key objectives are to: 1) define how E. faecalis disrupts endoplasmic reticulum (ER)...

This federal Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) (CFDA 10.310) provides $735,923 to the Regents of the University of California at Riverside to study the transmission dynamics of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa. The goal is to identify components of the pathogen-insect-plant interface that could be disrupted to control diseases caused by X. fastidiosa, such as olive quick decline and citrus...

The University of Arizona received a three-year, $646,180 project grant award from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. The grant funds research into the environmental transmission of symbiotic bacteria in Leptoglossus zonatus, an orchard pest bug. The University will study the rates and risks of environmental symbiont acquisition in confined bug populations, examine...