Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded $204,375 to the Trustees of Boston University (Boston University Medical Campus) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop next-generation human immune system (HIS) mice models for vaccine testing against high-containment viruses. The project, which commenced June 1, 2026 and concludes May 31, 2028, addresses a critical gap in vaccine development research by combining recent advances in human immune cell engraftment with sustained B cell responses in a single improved mouse model. Current HIS mouse models lack critical target cell populations necessary for filovirus vaccine studies; this research will define the new model's capacity to engraft human immune cells and enable preclinical vaccine efficacy testing for pathogens such as Ebola, Sudan, and Marburg viruses without relying on costly and ethically challenging non-human primate models.

This project advances vaccine development methodology by leveraging Boston University Medical Campus's established expertise in biomedical research supported through NIAID and other National Institutes of Health components. The improved HIS mouse model will facilitate more efficient and ethical preclinical testing of candidate filovirus vaccines while reducing research costs and accelerating the translational pipeline from basic immunological research to clinical vaccine candidates. The research is conducted at the awardee's facility in Roxbury, Massachusetts.