Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded San Diego Biomedical Research Institute a Project Grant of $809,479 under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) for the period June 4, 2026 through May 31, 2027. The award supports research aimed at inducing broadly neutralizing antibodies (BNAbs) to protect against HIV-1 infection. The research deliverables include the engineering and development of native HIV envelope glycoprotein trimers designed to activate VRC01-class unmutated common ancestor B cells, followed by maturation through a cocktail of native trimer boosting immunogens. The institute will express engineered gp120/gp41 envelope trimers and test these immunogens in appropriate animal models using nucleic acid delivery to overcome existing limitations in current HIV vaccine strategies, particularly addressing the challenge of accommodating the N276 glycan in functional envelope trimers.

This research contributes to NIAID's broader mission to support innovative investigator-initiated biomedical research addressing infectious diseases. The work is being conducted at the awardee's performance location in San Diego, California, and represents a translational science initiative bridging fundamental immunological understanding toward the development of effective HIV vaccine candidates. The research outputs are intended to advance scientific knowledge regarding antibody maturation pathways and provide methodological advances applicable to HIV vaccine development strategies.