The University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMass Medical) received a Project Grant award of $658,273 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855). The award, with a project period from November 12, 2024 to October 31, 2029, supports research to investigate how Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV-1) activates and inhibits the NLRP1 inflammasome pathway, and to understand the contribution of NLRP1 to antiviral defense in human skin. The project aims to determine the mechanisms by which the HSV-1 ICP0 protein activates stress-activated protein kinases and inhibits the NLRP1 inflammasome, as well as to define the functional consequences of NLRP1 activation for antiviral defense in human skin. The research is expected to provide fundamental insights into antiviral defense strategies in human skin during the early stages of HSV-1 infection and how the virus evades these defenses to establish a lifelong infection.
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