Federal Grant Award Summary

Brigham & Women's Hospital, Inc. received a $3.08 million Project Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), awarded on February 5, 2026, with performance through January 31, 2030. The project, titled "TH2 Memory in Chronic Type 2 Inflammation," focuses on understanding the mechanisms that sustain aberrant Type 2 T helper cell progenitor populations in chronic inflammatory diseases. The research will employ advanced molecular and cellular characterization techniques, including single-cell RNA sequencing with T cell receptor sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, metabolic assessment, and high-dimensional flow cytometry to deconstruct the TH2 immune compartment in two clinically similar but mechanistically distinct diseases: aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSWNP).

The research addresses a significant gap in immunological understanding by investigating how Type 2 immune responses are maintained despite chronic antigen exposure, contrasting with the immune exhaustion typically observed in cancer and chronic infection contexts. The project includes development and utilization of a novel chronic, multi-allergen mouse asthma model that recapitulates key features of human tissue Type 2 inflammation to identify core factors promoting maintenance of TH2 multipotent progenitor populations. This research is anticipated to yield insights into pathogenic mechanisms of chronic type 2 inflammatory diseases and identify potential therapeutic intervention points for conditions characterized by aberrant Type 2 immune responses.