Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Massachusetts General Hospital's Research Management Division received an $800,824 Project Grant award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director under the Research Infrastructure Programs (CFDA 93.351) on July 15, 2026, with a completion date of April 30, 2030. The award supports the development of next-generation preclinical zebrafish xenograft models for human cell and tissue transplantation studies. The primary deliverables include: (1) radiation-ablation zebrafish models to accelerate human tissue engraftment; (2) optimized assays and tools for assessing human muscle engraftment; (3) fluorescent multiplexing techniques for high-throughput, single-cell resolution analysis of therapeutic responses; and (4) transgenic zebrafish lines expressing human cytokines to support human blood cell growth. These models will enable evaluation of cancer therapies including small molecule combinations, engineered CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) cell therapies, and antibody-directed immunotherapies.

The project advances the NIH's research infrastructure objectives by providing biomedical researchers with cost-effective, imaging-amenable alternatives to traditional mouse xenograft studies. Zebrafish platforms offer advantages including lower costs, scalability for large-scale studies, and superior real-time imaging capabilities at single-cell resolution. The research infrastructure and validated models developed will support regenerative medicine and oncology research across the broader NIH-funded research community, directly addressing the Research Infrastructure Programs' mandate to develop and disseminate research models with applicability across multiple disease areas and research institutions.