Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded a Project Grant of $435,875 to Indiana University Indianapolis under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) on April 3, 2026, for completion by March 31, 2028. This award funds investigator-initiated biomedical research aimed at understanding how bacterial evolution influences the pathogenesis of Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae), a gram-negative bacterium that commonly colonizes the human gastrointestinal tract. The research employs experimental evolution approaches to elucidate the mechanisms by which K. pneumoniae adapts to the gut environment and subsequently causes infection, with particular emphasis on addressing emerging public health threats posed by multi-drug-resistant and hypervirulent K. pneumoniae strains.

The primary products of this research initiative will include scientific knowledge and methodological advances generated through two complementary experimental approaches: (1) assaying K. pneumoniae evolution in the gut using replay experiments to identify repeatable evolutionary events, and (2) measuring the pathogenic impact of gut-derived mutations on K. pneumoniae virulence in a microbiome-dependent manner. The research is designed to address critical gaps in understanding how evolutionary processes influence bacterial colonization and infection dynamics, with direct applications to improving public health outcomes and informing strategies to combat emerging resistant and virulent K. pneumoniae variants. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed scientific publications and presentations to advance the broader research and clinical communities' understanding of infectious disease mechanisms.