Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of Massachusetts Medical School received a $773,706 Project Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), awarded June 11, 2026, with a completion date of May 31, 2031. This award funds biomedical research investigating the regulation of programmed cell death through protein succination, a post-translational modification process mediated by the metabolite fumarate. The research will characterize how succination of key proteins—specifically gasdermin D (GSDMD), gasdermin E (GSDME), and the anti-apoptotic protein Parkinson disease protein 7 (PARK7)—impairs oligomerization and modulates pyroptosis, apoptosis, and related cell death mechanisms. Understanding these molecular pathways has implications for infectious disease response, immune homeostasis, and cellular stress management.

The project will employ innovative conditional genetic models to manipulate intracellular fumarate concentrations and define the impact of succination on cell death regulation in activated macrophages. By establishing fumarate as a critical metabolic signaling regulator of cell death, this research aims to identify novel therapeutic targets and reveal mechanistic insights into how programmed cell death is controlled at the molecular level. The work will be conducted at the Worcester, Massachusetts facility of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, supporting fundamental research objectives of the NIAID program to expand biomedical knowledge addressing infectious disease mechanisms and immune function.