Federal Grant Award Summary

Brigham Young University received a $405,295 Project Grant award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), effective July 8, 2026 through February 28, 2031. The award supports the development and expansion of the Phosphorylation Integrated Thermal Shift Assay (PITSA), a novel proteome-scale methodology designed to identify regulatory proteins and phosphorylation sites by measuring thermal shifts. The project addresses a significant gap in functional annotation of post-translational modifications, as current databases lack functional information for approximately 94% of identified phosphorylation sites, thereby limiting the translational utility of large-scale phosphoproteomics experiments.

Under this grant, the research team will advance PITSA capabilities by adapting the assay to accommodate additional post-translational modifications beyond phosphorylation and streamlining sample processing protocols to enable broader adoption across the research community. The resulting datasets will provide functional annotations linking individual phosphorylation events and proteins to cellular functions, thereby enhancing the ability to predict phenotypic outcomes from phosphoproteomics data and advancing understanding of biological signaling pathways. This foundational research contributes to NIGMS's mission to support basic biomedical research that increases understanding of biological processes and enables advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.