Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center received a $456,500 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 2, 2026, with a completion date of January 31, 2028. This R21 project grant supports investigator-initiated biomedical research focused on the role of oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS) enzymes in intestinal immunity and inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis.

The research deliverables include scientific investigations examining OAS pathway expression and activity in bacteria-infected intestinal epithelial cells, mouse colitis tissue models, and human colitis biopsies. The project comprises two primary aims: (1) determining OAS pathway expression and activity in diseased intestinal tissue, and (2) characterizing an OAS1A gain-of-function mouse model that recapitulates human inflammatory bowel disease. The grant supports foundational research to establish OAS enzymes as key innate immune sensors of microbial RNA and to clarify how aberrant OAS-RNase L pathway activation contributes to intestinal inflammatory disease, addressing a critical knowledge gap in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying inflammatory bowel disease development.