Federal Grant Award Summary

Brown University received a $791,611 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 April 10, 2026, with a completion date of March 31, 2031. The project focuses on the discovery and development of novel antimalarial drugs targeting Plasmodium falciparum GRP (PfGARP) for parenteral therapy treatment of severe falciparum malaria. This research directly addresses the urgent need for new antimalarial therapeutics in response to growing artemisinin-resistant parasite strains threatening malaria control efforts in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions.

The funded research will conduct a targeted, high-throughput drug screen to identify pharmaceutical compounds that mimic the lethal activity of antibodies against PfGARP, followed by optimization and down-selection of candidate drugs and validation studies. PfGARP represents a high-value druggable target due to its surface expression on infected red blood cells, absence of amino acid homology with host proteins, minimal sequence variation across field isolates, requirement for parasite survival, and demonstrated ability of antibody binding to eliminate parasites within 12-24 hours. The project deliverables will generate novel antimalarial compounds with potential for clinical translation as parenteral formulations for treatment of severe malaria in vulnerable populations.