Federal Grant Award Summary

Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center received a $267,704 Project Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), awarded on April 3, 2026, with completion targeted for March 31, 2028. The grant funds development and deployment of a lateral flow point-of-care diagnostic device for rapid detection of Paenibacillus thiaminolyticus, a highly lethal bacterial pathogen causing neonatal sepsis in sub-Saharan Africa and increasingly in the United States. The device, based on monoclonal antibodies developed by the research team, is designed for use in low-resource settings where early detection can enable timely tailored antibiotic intervention to improve patient outcomes.

The project comprises two primary aims: Aim I focuses on prototype development and laboratory validation through a contracted partnership with RayBiotech, utilizing purified monoclonal antibodies and clinical samples to validate the device's performance. Aim II involves field testing of the validated device in clinical settings with patient samples. This research directly addresses urgent public health needs by providing an accessible diagnostic solution for a serious emerging infectious disease threat affecting vulnerable neonatal populations across multiple geographic regions.