Project Grant R21AI190716

Federal Grant Award Summary

Midwestern University received a $296,150 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 24, 2026, with a completion date of May 31, 2028. The project delivers research-based services focused on defining dynamic toxicity thresholds for vancomycin, a critical hospital antibiotic used to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), particularly when administered alongside co-nephrotoxic medications or nephroprotectant therapies. The research utilizes age-specific animal models and richly collected clinical data to identify safe and effective vancomycin dosing strategies that minimize drug-induced kidney injury (DIKI) in both adult and pediatric populations.

The deliverables include translational research linking preclinical findings from rat models to bedside clinical applications through biomarker analysis (including kidney injury molecule-1) and precision dosing simulations. Specifically, the project employs flucloxacillin as an exemplar co-nephrotoxin and protamine as a nephroprotectant to establish how these concomitant therapies alter vancomycin's toxicity threshold, with the ultimate goal of enabling clinicians to implement precision dosing strategies and nephroprotectant interventions that decrease DIKI while maintaining therapeutic efficacy in antibiotic treatment protocols.