Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Tufts University School of Medicine received a Project Grant award of $859,278 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), effective February 19, 2026, with completion targeted for January 31, 2031. The grant supports research focused on accelerating the discovery of narrow-spectrum antibiotics targeting Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. The project addresses a critical gap in infectious disease treatment by developing antimicrobial agents with selective activity against the target pathogen, thereby avoiding the collateral effects of broad-spectrum antibiotics, including resistance propagation in non-target bacteria, microbiome disruption, and pathogenic overgrowth. The research will employ innovative screening methodologies to improve the efficiency of compound discovery, moving beyond traditional high-throughput screening approaches that have yielded low hit rates for B. burgdorferi activity.

The award supports basic and translational research conducted at Tufts University School of Medicine's facility in Massachusetts, leveraging the institution's established capacity in infectious disease research and its established partnership with NIAID. This competitive grant reflects NIAID's investment in advancing scientific knowledge of disease mechanisms and developing novel therapeutic interventions for significant public health challenges, with anticipated outcomes that could substantially alter current approaches to Lyme disease treatment and prevention.