Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded Boston Children's Hospital a $267,000 Project Grant on June 16, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to investigate the mechanisms underlying messenger RNA-lipid nanoparticle (mRNA-LNP) vaccine efficacy. The research, to be completed by May 31, 2028, focuses on understanding how mRNA-LNP vaccines elicit immune responses despite delivering membrane-anchored immunogens to skeletal muscle, which paradoxically generate germinal center responses in distant lymphoid organs. The project will produce scientific research addressing two specific aspects: characterizing the cell types transduced during vaccination at both the injection site and draining lymph nodes, and determining the importance of transducing specific cell populations (particularly professional antigen-presenting cells) to vaccine efficacy using reporter assays and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein as an immunogen.

This investigation will advance the foundational understanding of mRNA-LNP vaccine immunogenicity by validating and expanding upon prior findings regarding lymphocyte and macrophage targeting, while examining the role of extracellular vesicles in delivering intact immunogens from injection sites to antigen-presenting cells in draining lymph nodes. The research outputs will contribute to the broader scientific knowledge base supporting vaccine development and optimization for infectious disease applications.