Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Duke University's Office of Research Administration received a $482,071 Project Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), awarded February 19, 2026, with completion targeted for January 31, 2031. The award funds fundamental research into copper (Cu) homeostasis mechanisms in fungal pathogenesis, specifically utilizing Cryptococcus neoformans as a model system to advance understanding of how opportunistic fungal pathogens adapt to copper-toxic and copper-limited environments during infection cycles.

The research deliverables focus on characterizing transcriptional and post-transcriptional copper regulatory mechanisms that enable C. neoformans to transition between copper-resistant states during initial lung infection and copper-foraging states during dissemination to the central nervous system. The project investigates the CUF1 transcription factor as the primary regulator of cellular responses to both copper overload and copper limitation, with findings anticipated to identify conserved and novel mechanisms of eukaryotic copper biology applicable to infectious disease pathogenesis and treatment. Research will be conducted at Duke University's Durham, North Carolina facility, leveraging the institution's established capacity in biomedical research and infectious disease investigation to address a significant public health threat responsible for over 100,000 annual deaths, particularly among immunocompromised populations with untreated HIV infection.