Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded the University of Illinois a $440,908 Project Grant under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) on February 5, 2026, with a completion date of January 31, 2028. The award funds research to develop extracellular vesicle-inspired nano vesicles capable of delivering CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) ribonucleoprotein complexes to target methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. The research addresses a critical knowledge gap in antimicrobial therapy by developing an alternative to traditional vector-based CRISPR delivery approaches that carry significant logistical challenges and adverse side effects.

The project encompasses two primary objectives: engineering artificial vesicles designed for bacterial entry, with specific focus on prevalent MRSA strains found in the United States, and developing CRISPR ribonucleoproteins that target conserved bacterial regions. The deliverables will advance translational science by creating a novel delivery platform that selectively targets pathogenic bacteria while minimizing off-target effects on mammalian host cells. This research leverages foundational knowledge from extracellular vesicle biology to address the critical clinical challenge of antibiotic-resistant infections, which represent a leading cause of healthcare-associated infections nationally and globally.