Federal Grant Award Summary

Tufts University School of Medicine received a $490,704 Project Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), awarded February 10, 2026, with completion expected January 31, 2028. The grant supports the development of spatial multi-omics methodologies to predict granuloma trajectory and bacterial restriction during tuberculosis (TB) vaccination. Specifically, the research will utilize spatial proteomic and transcriptional profiling to comprehensively map immune cell infiltrates within granulomas—immunological structures critical to TB disease progression—in both naive and vaccinated non-human primates receiving live attenuated vaccines.

The deliverables include the creation of a computational pipeline designed to define granuloma microenvironment frequency and distribution patterns that predict Mycobacterium tuberculosis restriction and correlate immune responses between draining and peripheral lymph nodes. This research builds upon predictive spatial modeling approaches used in oncology to assess vaccine efficacy through a novel framework. By characterizing T cell interactions, phenotypes, and spatial relationships to TB-infected macrophages in lung and lymph node tissues, the project will provide foundational knowledge to identify predictive correlates of protection against TB—a critical gap in current TB vaccine development and evaluation capabilities.