Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Rutgers The State University of New Jersey's School of Nursing received a $421,098 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), effective April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2028. This research initiative aims to advance understanding of T cell receptor (TCR) affinity's role in directing helper T cell (TH) differentiation in allergic asthma, specifically examining how TCR-intrinsic factors influence TH2 versus TH17 inflammatory responses to fungal protease allergens. The project addresses a critical gap in allergy research by developing novel research tools, including peptide-Major Histocompatibility Complex II tetramers and TCR transgenic mouse models, to enable direct examination of allergen-specific T cell populations and their effector fate determination.

The primary deliverables include the development of diagnostic and research reagents to identify and investigate CD4+ T cell clonotypes comprising polyclonal immune responses against aeroallergens in a murine allergic asthma model. Specific research objectives encompass defining the relationship between TCR affinity and TH2/TH17 fate in polyclonal responses (Aim 1) and directly testing the causal role of TCR affinity in TH cell differentiation (Aim 2). By overcoming technical barriers in epitope discovery and immunodominance characterization, this project is expected to generate transgenic models, cytokine reporters, and molecular reagents that will advance both allergy and immunology research communities.