Project Grant R21AI202462
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $427,625 on April 1, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855). The recipient will evaluate the efficacy of coreceptor therapy using low-dose nondepleting anti-CD4 antibodies to induce de-differentiation of autoreactive T follicular helper cells (TFH) and promote their conversion into functional regulatory T cells (TREG) in the context of type 1...
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded Duke University $1.228 million on June 16, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop donor-specific transplant tolerance strategies using immune reset approaches in a rhesus monkey kidney allograft model. The research combines T regulatory cell–promoting strategies, including an IL-2 mutein (MIL-2) administered in combination with rapamycin, anti-CD154 monoclonal antibody, IL-6...
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded Duke University $162,792 on August 20, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855, Project Grant R21AI202489) to develop and validate an antibody-mediated rejection (AMR)-on-a-chip platform that recapitulates key pathological features of AMR in kidney transplant rejection in vitro. The recipient will engineer a glomerulus-on-a-chip model using human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived renal...
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded New York University $230,340 on September 30, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop antibody-based therapies that block pathogenic donor-specific antibody (DSA) responses in transplant rejection. The three-year training plan, performed at New York University School of Medicine in New York, New York, aims to engineer recombinant antibodies from pathogenic DSAs into blocking...
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $3,064,333 on July 1, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to support research investigating how the host immune response influences methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus susceptibility to antibiotics in skin and soft tissue infections. The research comprises three specific aims. Aim 1 examines how neutrophils enriched during the...
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded Duke University $597,613 on April 1, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop ex vivo delivery of viral-mediated gene therapy for ameliorating post-transplant rejection in lung transplantation. The research develops adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector delivery during normothermic ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) to genetically modify donor lung grafts. The project addresses high...
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $233,250 on June 12, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to investigate host-microbe interactions that drive pro-fibrotic macrophage phenotypes in inflammatory bowel disease. The research focuses on defining how adherent-invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) and other intracellular bacteria manipulate human macrophage signaling and phenotype. The...
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $530,480 on September 1, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop intravenously administered acetalated dextran microparticles for treating multiple sclerosis. The recipient will conduct basic and translational research on biopolymeric acetalated dextran microparticles designed to target B cells in vivo and induce antigen-specific...
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $427,625 on June 15, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to identify immune signatures associated with HIV reservoir characteristics and clonal expansion in people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy. The recipient will conduct single-cell transcriptomic and proteomic analysis of immune cells across a cohort of 125 antiretroviral...
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded the University of Pittsburgh $750,787 on July 23, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to investigate central memory stem-cell-like follicular helper T cells (CTFH) and their contribution to durable donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies (DSA) and chronic antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) in kidney transplant recipients. The research addresses mechanisms of chronic rejection in solid organ...
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $251,324 on August 20, 2026, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) to develop engineered organ transplants resistant to antibody-mediated rejection through synthetic biology platforms. The research focuses on designing signal-inducible, drug-controllable endopeptidases for localized antibody degradation within transplanted tissue. The award funds two primary aims: engineering intracellular sensor-based gene circuits that integrate phosphorylated S6RP signaling and small-molecule drug-responsive switches to achieve precise, reversible endopeptidase activation; and validating the engineered rejection-resistant organs in vivo using fully MHC-mismatched mouse heart transplantation models challenged with donor-specific antibodies. The work leverages the RASER (Rewiring of Aberrant Signaling to Effector Release) and DRON (Drug-Switch On) platforms to enable alloantibody binding to MHC molecules to trigger endopeptidase expression while maintaining temporal control through small-molecule activation. This approach aims to provide durable graft protection without systemic immunosuppression and establish design principles applicable to autoantibody-driven autoimmune diseases. Work is performed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The period of performance runs through July 31, 2028.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $251.3k | 8/20/26 |