Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded the University of Alabama at Birmingham $490,611 on April 3, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to conduct a five-year project through March 31, 2031. This Project Grant funds investigator-initiated biomedical research examining the role of regulatory dendritic cells (mRegDC1) in neonatal immune responses to influenza infection. The research addresses a critical public health gap by investigating how a newly identified form of dendritic cell maturation impairs protective CD8 T cell responses in newborns and young infants, thereby contributing to their increased susceptibility to respiratory viral infections.

The funded research will generate scientific knowledge and methodological advances through two primary aims: (1) characterizing whether mRegDC1 cells protect neonatal lungs from inflammation while compromising viral control, and whether their absence during influenza A virus infection risks autoimmunity; and (2) characterizing the transcriptomic programs induced in CD4 T cells by mRegDC1 to identify previously unknown mechanisms of anti-inflammatory function. Utilizing genetically modified mouse strains with targeted dendritic cell lineage deletions, the project will advance understanding of neonatal immunological mechanisms and generate findings intended to improve therapeutic interventions for respiratory viral infections in vulnerable infant populations.