Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Duke University's Office of Research Administration received a $832,783 Project Grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) under the Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.847), effective February 1, 2026, through November 30, 2029. The research deliverables focus on defining cellular and molecular signatures of inflammation in people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) on antiretroviral therapy that contribute to chronic kidney disease (CKD) development. The project will comprehensively characterize plasma inflammatory endotypes in a retrospective cohort of aging people with HIV-1 (50+ years old) who progressed from early to later-stage kidney disease, compared against people with HIV-1 with normal renal function.

The research will employ systems immunology and advanced machine learning approaches to characterize soluble and cellular inflammatory profiles in both peripheral blood and urine samples from a prospective cohort of 200 aging people with HIV-1 on antiretroviral therapy. Notably, the study will leverage urine as a non-invasive biofluid to identify proteins and viable cells originating from the kidney as indicators of renal inflammation and kidney function. The project will integrate clinical testing and human kidneys-on-chips models to establish the relationship between systemic inflammatory endotypes and organ-compartmentalized inflammation, ultimately identifying early biomarkers and inflammatory pathways that predict progressive kidney disease development in this population.