Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded a $197,500 Project Grant to Georgia State University Research Foundation Inc. on April 22, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855). The project, titled "Cross-Protective Immune-Enhancing Mechanisms of Combined mRNA and Conventional Flu Vaccines," will be conducted in Atlanta, Georgia, with a completion date of March 31, 2028. The research focuses on developing and evaluating novel combination vaccination strategies that pair messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) lipid nanoparticle (LNP) vaccine constructs encoding conserved influenza antigens with conventional split-virus flu vaccines to enhance broad cross-protective immunity against multiple influenza A and B virus subtypes while reducing required vaccine doses.

The primary research deliverables include scientific investigations into the immunological mechanisms underlying the synergistic protection achieved through combined mRNA-LNP and conventional vaccine administration, with particular emphasis on cross-protective immunity targeting neuraminidase (NA) and the matrix protein 2 ectodomain (M2E) repeat domains. The project will generate data on vaccine efficacy, immune response characterization, and clinical outcomes that contribute to advancing universal influenza vaccine development and addressing the limitations of existing conventional vaccines, which demonstrate suboptimal efficacy ranging from 10 to 60 percent against seasonal and pandemic influenza strains.