Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded the University of Southern California $835,021 on July 7, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to characterize trained innate immunity mediated by a novel immunomodulatory mixture. The research focuses on developing and optimizing a protein-free combination of aluminum hydroxide, monophosphoryl lipid, and fungal mannan to prevent hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This project addresses a critical public health need, as approximately 2 million HAIs occur annually in the United States, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and an estimated $100 billion in healthcare costs.

Over the five-year award period through June 30, 2031, the research team will optimize dosing regimens for maximal efficacy and duration, identify immune correlates of protection, and define the mechanistic pathways underlying protection to facilitate clinical development and deployment. The deliverables include research findings on macrophage-dependent and natural killer cell-mediated immunity mechanisms, as well as characterization of epigenetic changes associated with trained immunity. These scientific outputs are intended to support the advancement of this novel immunomodulatory approach from preclinical research toward clinical application for HAI prevention.