Federal Grant Award Summary

Iowa State University of Science and Technology received a $182,558 Project Grant award dated May 6, 2026, from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) under the Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health program (CFDA 93.286). The project, titled "A Bioinspired Strategy for Informing Drug Combination to Overcome Disease-Specific Immunosuppression," will be conducted in Ames, Iowa, with a completion date of February 28, 2029. The research deliverable involves developing a novel drug discovery methodology that leverages the foreign body response (FBR) of subcutaneous biomaterial scaffold implants to identify immunoregulatory biomolecules capable of counteracting disease-induced immune dysfunction.

The project will produce personalized combination immunostimulatory therapeutics designed to address immune disorders by identifying and developing biomolecules that the body naturally produces in response to immune dysregulation. The research will employ immunosuppression as a disease model, with specific focus on generating combination drug candidates tailored to cancer immunosuppression and lipopolysaccharide tolerance across varying host immunity profiles. Upon completion, this work will deliver a systematic strategy for designing personalized combination therapies applicable to diverse immune disorders across multiple disease contexts, addressing a critical gap in current immunoregulatory drug development guidelines.