Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded a $717,003 Project Grant on April 6, 2026, to the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) for research on protective messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines against tuberculosis. The project, with a completion date of March 31, 2031, aims to develop and evaluate a novel combination mRNA vaccine (QRNA) that utilizes QUILA-DOTAP, a lipid nanoparticle delivery system encoding three mycobacterial antigens (AG85B, HSP70, and ESXH). The research will assess vaccine safety, immunogenicity, and protective efficacy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in murine models, including both immune-compromised and immune-competent strains, and evaluate the vaccine's performance as both a standalone and heterologous booster to the existing Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine.

The project will generate research outcomes including preclinical data on vaccine immunogenicity, safety profiles in variable murine models, and comparative protective efficacy data against both laboratory and hypervirulent clinical strains of M. tuberculosis. This research supports NIAID's mission to fund biomedical research addressing infectious disease challenges and vaccine development, contributing scientific knowledge toward improving tuberculosis vaccine effectiveness in populations affected by this significant global health threat.