Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded a Project Grant of $713,873 to The Regents of the University of Colorado-Denver on May 21, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855). This five-year award, scheduled for completion on April 30, 2031, supports collaborative and interdisciplinary research to mechanistically define how lymph node stromal cells (LNSCs)—including fibroblastic reticular cells and lymphatic endothelial cells—regulate viral dissemination and contribute to antiviral immune response development. The research specifically examines how LNSCs capture and process viral particles, particularly mosquito-transmitted RNA alphaviruses such as Chikungunya virus, and how viral infection alters the capacity of these cells to acquire and archive foreign antigens for enhanced protective immunity.

The primary deliverables under this award include scientific research findings on the mechanistic roles of discrete LNSC populations in limiting viral dissemination to distal tissues and supporting both germinal center formation and antigen archiving processes. The research will characterize how alterations to specific LNSCs during viral infection influence protective immunity from previous and subsequent antigenic challenges, with the ultimate objective of identifying evidence-based approaches to rationally optimize immune responses in both health and disease contexts. This research is conducted at the performance location in Aurora, Colorado.