Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded J. David Gladstone Institutes a $896,029 Project Grant on July 15, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop advanced research methodologies and therapeutic approaches for understanding HIV reservoir cells that persist despite antiretroviral therapy (ART). The grant funds the UNDO-HIV (Understanding and Obliterating the Active HIV Reservoir) initiative, which delivers three pioneering technologies: HIV-PREX, a single-cell sequencing platform for characterizing translationally-active HIV reservoir cells; MIBI-TOF, a high-parameter imaging method for analyzing these cells within tissue microenvironments; and TRACER, a bioengineered platform for identifying and targeting HIV peptide-presenting cells based on MHC Class I surface presentation. Research will be conducted in San Francisco, California, utilizing banked and prospectively-collected blood and tissue specimens from the UCSF SCOPE cohort of people with HIV.

Across three research aims extending through June 30, 2031, Gladstone will establish the transcriptional and proteomic features of translationally-active reservoir cells, track these features longitudinally over 2–20 years of suppressive ART, conduct comparative analyses between male and female patients, and compare reservoir cell characteristics across blood and tissue specimens. These research deliverables directly support NIAID's mission to fund biomedical research addressing infectious and immunologic diseases, with potential implications for HIV cure strategies and advancing scientific understanding of viral persistence mechanisms.