Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded $447,960 under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences for a project addressing genetic control of early Mycobacterium tuberculosis inflammatory responses. The award was obligated on February 13, 2026, with a completion date of January 31, 2028. The research will be conducted at the East Lansing, MI facility and focuses on identifying genetic and mechanistic drivers of heterogeneous tuberculosis disease trajectories through development of an indexed library of fetal liver-derived alveolar-like macrophages (FLAMs) derived from the Collaborative Cross mouse panel.

The project deliverables include creation and validation of a CC-FLAM library with barcoded cells to track genotype-specific responses during infection, implementation of single-cell RNA sequencing and quantitative trait locus mapping to define transcriptional networks associated with inflammatory cytokine production, and identification of mechanistic drivers of alveolar macrophage heterogeneity linked to tuberculosis progression. These products are designed to address a critical knowledge gap regarding how early host-pathogen interactions drive distinct tuberculosis disease trajectories, with potential implications for developing more effective therapeutic approaches to this major global cause of mortality.