Grant List
Represents Grant table in the DB
GET /v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1405&sort=principal_investigator
{ "links": { "first": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1&sort=principal_investigator", "last": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1424&sort=principal_investigator", "next": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1406&sort=principal_investigator", "prev": "https://cic-apps.datascience.columbia.edu/v1/grants?page%5Bnumber%5D=1404&sort=principal_investigator" }, "data": [ { "type": "Grant", "id": "15710", "attributes": { "award_id": "2521137", "title": "I-Corps: Translation Potential of a Point-of-Care Diagnostic for Preeclampsia", "funder": { "id": 3, "ror": "https://ror.org/021nxhr62", "name": "National Science Foundation", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP)", "I-Corps" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 602, "first_name": "Ruth", "last_name": "Shuman", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2025-06-15", "end_date": null, "award_amount": 50000, "principal_investigator": { "id": 32582, "first_name": "Mark", "last_name": "Styczynski", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 294, "ror": "", "name": "Georgia Tech Research Corporation", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "GA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "This I-Corps project is based on the development of a diagnostic test for preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication associated with high blood pressure. Preeclampsia is one of the leading causes of maternal morbidity and is estimated to occur in up to 10% of all pregnancies. When left untreated, preeclampsia can result in serious and sometimes fatal complications including stroke, seizure, kidney disease, heart disease, and preterm birth. Diagnosis of preeclampsia remains a significant challenge. The current diagnostic standard for preeclampsia relies on insensitive tests and outdated standards, allowing diagnosis only after evidence of organ damage in the mother. Also, preeclampsia tests generally need to be performed in clinical labs by trained personnel, leading to increased costs, decreased accessibility, and decreased likelihood of catching preeclampsia before it becomes dangerous to mother and fetus. This technology addresses these challenges by providing a preeclampsia diagnostic that can be used at home by untrained personnel with just a finger-stick volume of blood that is no more difficult to interpret than an at-home COVID test. This technology may improve detection, treatment, and management of preeclampsia and improve the outcomes of pregnant individuals with this condition. This I-Corps project utilizes experiential learning coupled with a first-hand investigation of the industry ecosystem to assess the translation potential of a preeclampsia diagnostic that can be used at home by untrained personnel with just a finger-stick volume of blood. The technology is based on a recently developed cell-free synthetic biology technique to measure proteins harnessed from nature and re-engineered to detect recently discovered biomarkers for preeclampsia in a mother’s blood sample. A visually interpretable color change that provides semi-quantitative screening for preeclampsia has been created that is similar to an at-home COVID test. The use of cell-free systems, which consist of purified bacterial extracts, enables easy reprogramming to create diagnostics for new diseases without the extensive, expensive, trial-and-error development cycle associated with existing point-of-care protein measurement techniques. This system is compatible with the lyophilization that is needed to enable shelf-stable products that can be distributed commercially. This technology may allow the development of at-home screening and diagnostic testing for preeclampsia and for many other different types of diseases in the future with the goal of improving patient outcomes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15711", "attributes": { "award_id": "2520735", "title": "Conference: Algebraic Topology: Methods, Computation, and Science 2025", "funder": { "id": 3, "ror": "https://ror.org/021nxhr62", "name": "National Science Foundation", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS)", "TOPOLOGY" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 32583, "first_name": "Paulo Lima", "last_name": "Filho", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2025-06-15", "end_date": null, "award_amount": 24999, "principal_investigator": { "id": 32585, "first_name": "Brittany", "last_name": "Fasy", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [ { "id": 32584, "first_name": "Facundo", "last_name": "Memoli", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "awardee_organization": { "id": 259, "ror": "https://ror.org/02w0trx84", "name": "Montana State University", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MT", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "\"Algebraic Topology: Methods, Computation, and Science (ATMCS)\" is the main conference in the rapidly expanding field of applied algebraic topology. ATMCS11 will be held 21-25 July 2025 at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. The conference program includes 13 invited talks, contributed talks, and a poster session. This project will support speaker-participants, as well as US-based student and early-career participants. The conference will convene approximately 250 researchers in applied topology, construed broadly. As ATMCS9 was cancelled due to COVID-19, ATMCS11 is only the second time that this international conference is hosted in the USA. In addition, as this conference is typically held bi-annually, ATMCS11 has a strong potential to set new research directions and collaborations. By providing funding for convening experts in applied and computational topology across the globe and funding US-based participants, this award will directly impact the state of research in applied and computational topology both in the US and around the world. The meeting will benefit the researchers who attend by exposing them to some of the latest results across a wide domain of applied and computational topology. In addition, the results presented at the conference will be broadly disseminated both through extended abstracts posted on the conference website and a follow-up special issue of the Springer journal La Matematica. A conference website is available at https://comptag.github.io/atmcs11/. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15713", "attributes": { "award_id": "1R01HL178459-01", "title": "Novel cysteinyl leukotriene receptor signaling in regulating cellular, and molecular events in lung inflammation", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 32586, "first_name": "ROYA", "last_name": "KALANTARI", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2025-06-09", "end_date": "2029-02-28", "award_amount": 579309, "principal_investigator": { "id": 32587, "first_name": "Sailaja", "last_name": "Paruchuri", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 823, "ror": "", "name": "UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO HEALTH SCI CAMPUS", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "OH", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "Project summary: Cysteinyl leukotrienes (cys-LTs; LTC4, LTD4, and LTE4) play an important role in asthma, allergy, and inflammatory bowel diseases via their receptors, CysLT1R and CysLT2R. However, the role of cys-LTs in regulating the inflammatory and proliferative phenotypes of macrophages (MФ) or their role in MФ-mediated lung inflammation is not well defined. Our preliminary work revealed a previously unidentified role for CysLT1R in balancing MФs’ inflammatory potential, metabolic function, and proliferation in vitro, and a role in driving LPS- mediated lung inflammation in vivo. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that the presence of CysLT1R drives the inflammatory state of MФs and lung inflammation in response to LPS. Further, since CysLT1R and CysLT2R antagonize each other, CysLT1R may act as a molecular brake for MФ hyper-proliferation via binding to and inhibiting CysLT2R. We propose to test this hypothesis in three aims. In Aim 1, we will determine the mechanistic aspects of how CysLT1R promotes the hyper-inflammatory MФ phenotype in vitro and analyze how CysLT1R influences the resident and recruited immune population in the lung in response to acute lung injury (ALI). In Aim 2, we will elucidate how CysLT1R suppresses MФ proliferation, and metabolism, and we will explore its antagonism towards CysLT2R in deciding the MФ activation state. Finally, in Aim 3, we will determine the pathophysiological significance of myeloid CysLT1R signaling in mediating lung inflammation in murine ALI models. Further, we will explore the therapeutic potential of blocking CysLT1R using MK571/Singulair, an FDA- approved asthma drug. Although a few reports have suggested the benefits of Singulair in reducing pulmonary inflammation during LPS-ALI and COVID-19, neither the mechanistic aspects, nor its prophylaxis vs therapeutic effect on all ALI parameters, were previously addressed. The successful completion of our project will unravel the previously unknown unique roles of CysLTR in influencing MФ function and its role in lung inflammation/injury.", "keywords": [ "Acute Lung Injury", "Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome", "Address", "Affect", "Agonist", "American", "Arachidonic Acids", "Arbitration", "Asthma", "Autocrine Communication", "Automobile Driving", "Binding", "Biology", "Biophysics", "COVID-19", "Cells", "Clinical", "Death Rate", "Disease", "Endothelium", "Equilibrium", "Event", "Exhibits", "FDA approved", "G-Protein-Coupled Receptors", "Genes", "Hypersensitivity", "Immune", "Impairment", "In Vitro", "Infection", "Inflammation", "Inflammatory", "Inflammatory Bowel Diseases", "Inflammatory Response", "Injury", "Knock-out", "Knockout Mice", "Knowledge", "Laboratories", "Leukotriene C4", "Leukotriene D4", "Leukotriene E4", "Leukotrienes", "Life", "Lipids", "LoxP-flanked allele", "Lung", "Lung Diseases", "Macrophage", "Macrophage Activation", "Mediating", "Metabolic", "Metabolism", "Modeling", "Molecular", "Morbidity - disease rate", "Mus", "Myelogenous", "Myeloid Cells", "Organ", "Outcome", "Patients", "Pharmaceutical Preparations", "Phenotype", "Play", "Pneumonia", "Population", "Positioning Attribute", "Production", "Proliferating", "Prophylactic treatment", "Pulmonary Inflammation", "Receptor Signaling", "Refractory", "Regulation", "Reporting", "Research", "Resolution", "Respiratory Failure", "Role", "Sepsis", "Signal Transduction", "Supportive care", "Testing", "Therapeutic", "Therapeutic Effect", "Tissues", "Trachea", "Urine", "Vascular Permeabilities", "Wild Type Mouse", "Work", "antagonist", "aspirate", "cecal ligation puncture", "clinical efficacy", "cysteinyl leukotriene receptor", "cysteinyl-leukotriene", "cytokine", "cytokine release syndrome", "effective therapy", "endothelial dysfunction", "experience", "experimental study", "functional outcomes", "immunogenic", "improved", "in vivo", "inhibitor", "insight", "lipid mediator", "lung injury", "mortality", "neutrophil", "novel", "novel therapeutic intervention", "novel therapeutics", "prevent", "receptor", "recruit", "response", "restraint", "treatment strategy" ], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15712", "attributes": { "award_id": "2427391", "title": "Chip Design Hub: Open, Accessible and Scalable Infrastructure for Research and Education", "funder": { "id": 3, "ror": "https://ror.org/021nxhr62", "name": "National Science Foundation", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Unknown", "Chip-Hub" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 977, "first_name": "Sankar", "last_name": "Basu", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2025-06-15", "end_date": null, "award_amount": 7000000, "principal_investigator": { "id": 32592, "first_name": "Gerhard", "last_name": "Klimeck", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [ { "id": 32588, "first_name": "Andrew B", "last_name": "Kahng", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, { "id": 32589, "first_name": "Alejandro H", "last_name": "Strachan", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, { "id": 32590, "first_name": "Christopher", "last_name": "Torng", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, { "id": 32591, "first_name": "Matthew", "last_name": "Morrison", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "awardee_organization": { "id": 252, "ror": "", "name": "Purdue University", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "IN", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "Semiconductors and chips are a crucial part of everyday life in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the problems caused by relying on imports for these essential components, affecting the economy, healthcare, and national security. To ensure national security, there is need to control all aspects of chip design, manufacturing, and integration. However, bringing chip manufacturing back to the US requires a significant increase in skilled workers, including technicians, engineers, scientists, and support staff. Chip manufacturing processes involve complex modeling and simulation tools, which are not commonly used in education today. Only a small number of universities in the US currently educate integrated circuit (IC) design engineers, and even tripling their enrollments won't meet the workforce demand. More universities need to be enabled to teach chip design. Many research institutions face challenges such as lack of Information Technology (IT), legal, and hardware support, educational materials, and experienced instructors. Chipshub will be a National Chip Design Hub for all US universities and colleges, providing education and training that is critical to bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the US. Chipshub will overcome challenges that span (1) content/products: creation of appropriate and sharable educational and tool content; (2) infrastructure/market: secure, scalable, seamless, user-friendly, well-supported, and sustainable web delivery of the content; (3) users/customers: reaching, engaging, incentivizing, and training faculty to teach and/or conduct research in IC design; and (4) sustainability through community building and growth across partners, users, and content providers. Chipshub will robustly and sustainably meet the key requirements for a national chip design hub, including licensing, access, and maintenance of commercial and open-source electronic design automation (EDA) tools for end-to-end chip design and verification; secure cloud-based availability of process design kits that span from open-source nodes to emerging technologies; and paths to multi-project (i.e., shuttle) integration. Chipshub will leverage past NSF investment in nanoHUB infrastructure, plus multiple other investments at similar scale: NSF gateway infrastructure; DARPA and commercial funding of OpenROAD and Precision Innovations; and commercial investment in chip design software. Chipshub team members have individually been at the forefront of the quest for accessible infrastructure that can serve training and workforce needs. This project will aim to deliver Chipshub as an infrastructure that is built to last. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15716", "attributes": { "award_id": "2515248", "title": "Collaborative Research: The mechanics of respiratory particle production in the larynx during phonation", "funder": { "id": 3, "ror": "https://ror.org/021nxhr62", "name": "National Science Foundation", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Engineering (ENG)", "FD-Fluid Dynamics" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 573, "first_name": "Ron", "last_name": "Joslin", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": null, "keywords": "[]", "approved": true, "websites": "[]", "desired_collaboration": "", "comments": "", "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2025-05-15", "end_date": null, "award_amount": 213727, "principal_investigator": { "id": 32595, "first_name": "Byron", "last_name": "Erath", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 510, "ror": "", "name": "Rochester Institute of Tech", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "NY", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "Infectious disease transmission, as highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, exacts a severe toll on the physical and psychological well-being, economic development, and health of the global community. To better understand how airborne diseases are spread, this project will determine how speaking generates microscopic respiratory particles that can release infectious pathogens into the surrounding air. Although actions like coughing and sneezing produce high numbers of respiratory particles, these events are not as common as speaking. In comparison, speaking produces particles continuously that results in large quantities of particles being expelled from the mouth over time. The rates at which individuals produce respiratory particles when speaking vary widely among people for unknown reasons. This project will answer this conundrum by performing experiments using both human subjects and physical models of phonation, with the goal of discovering how the mechanics of speaking influences how respiratory particles are produced. This approach will unlock new ways to understand aerosol generation in the vocal tract and how it affects airborne transmission of infectious diseases. Large-scale community outreach efforts through a university sponsored innovation fair (ImagineRIT) will transmit project findings to an interested public. The objective of this project is to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of aerosolized particle generation during phonation and their implications for the transmission of airborne pathogens. The multidisciplinary approach will utilize experimental models and human measurements to quantify the relationship between the biomechanical processes of speech and the mechanics of respiratory particle production. The project will explore how variations in the rheological properties of the respiratory tract lining fluid and the biomechanical actions at the physiological sites of particle generation contribute to the observed heterogeneity in aerosol production rates among individuals. This research is critically important due to the potential for asymptomatic speech-driven transmission of viruses, as evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings from this work will inform the development of evidence-based strategies for mitigating infection risk and will have broad application to public health policies regarding airborne diseases. The multi-disciplinary approach of the research plan will also provide a unique educational and training environment for two graduate students and three undergraduates that will participate in the work plan. Research findings will also be incorporated into existing classroom curricula at both the undergraduate and graduate level. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15718", "attributes": { "award_id": "1R01AI190359-01", "title": "Effects of Vaccination on Acute and Post-Acute Respiratory Viral Infection Outcomes in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 32597, "first_name": "BROOKE ALLISON", "last_name": "BOZICK", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2025-06-13", "end_date": "2030-05-31", "award_amount": 1442898, "principal_investigator": { "id": 32598, "first_name": "William", "last_name": "Werbel", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 344, "ror": "https://ror.org/00za53h95", "name": "Johns Hopkins University", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "MD", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "Respiratory viral infections (RVI) including SARS-CoV-2, RSV, and influenza, are major threats to the health of solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs), who live at the intersection of chronic comorbidity, frailty, and heavy immunosuppression. These factors contribute to high rates of clinically observed severe RVI and pose risks for poorly understood post-acute syndromes including organ dysfunction and protracted infections associated with immune evasive mutations of", "keywords": [ "2019-nCoV", "Accounting", "Acute", "Address", "Age", "Allografting", "Antibody Response", "Antimetabolites", "Authorization documentation", "Binding", "Biological Assay", "Blood specimen", "COVID-19", "COVID-19 pandemic", "COVID-19 vaccination", "Cessation of life", "Chronic", "Clinical", "Data", "Detection", "Development", "Diagnosis", "Disease", "Dose", "Enrollment", "Event", "Exclusion", "Frequencies", "Functional disorder", "Health", "Heterogeneity", "Hospital Mortality", "Hospitalization", "Immune Evasion", "Immunocompromised Host", "Immunoglobulin G", "Immunologics", "Immunosuppression", "Immunosuppressive Agents", "Infection", "Influenza", "Influenza A Virus H1N1 Subtype", "Intervention", "Knowledge", "Liquid substance", "Long COVID", "Longitudinal cohort", "Lung", "Measures", "Modeling", "Morbidity - disease rate", "Mucosal Immune Responses", "Mucosal Immunity", "Mucous Membrane", "Mutation", "Nose", "Organ", "Outcome", "Outcome Measure", "Participant", "Pattern", "Persons", "Phenotype", "Plasma", "Policies", "Population", "Prospective Studies", "Prospective cohort", "Public Health", "Regimen", "Reporting", "Research", "Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines", "Risk", "Risk Assessment", "Risk Factors", "Sampling", "Schedule", "Secretory Immunoglobulin A", "Severity of illness", "Signal Transduction", "Solid", "Subgroup", "Surveys", "Swab", "Symptoms", "Syndrome", "Time", "Transplantation", "Vaccination", "Vaccine Antigen", "Vaccines", "Viral", "Viral Respiratory Tract Infection", "Virus Diseases", "Virus Shedding", "breakthrough infection", "chronic infection", "cohort", "comorbidity", "effectiveness evaluation", "experience", "frailty", "high risk", "immunogenic", "immunoprophylaxis", "improved", "infection burden", "infection risk", "influenza infection", "mortality", "nasal swab", "neutralizing antibody", "novel", "novel vaccines", "organ transplant recipient", "organ transplant rejection", "post SARS-CoV-2 infection", "programs", "prospective", "response", "vaccine effectiveness", "vaccine platform", "vaccine response", "vaccine trial" ], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15719", "attributes": { "award_id": "1R01AI190286-01", "title": "Novel B cell epitope discovery against human coronaviruses", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 32599, "first_name": "MICHELLE MARIE", "last_name": "ARNOLD", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2025-06-10", "end_date": "2030-05-31", "award_amount": 899935, "principal_investigator": { "id": 32600, "first_name": "IAN A", "last_name": "WILSON", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 745, "ror": "", "name": "SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, THE", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "CA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "Human coronaviruses have caused devastating global pandemics and epidemics and continue to threaten global public health. Coronaviruses are highly variable, which has led evasion of most neutralizing antibodies and reduction in vaccine effectiveness. Many potent antibodies to coronaviruses have very limited breadth, while some of the broadest neutralizing antibodies described to date exhibit notably lower neutralization potency. Thus, the exigency to capitalize on what we have learned during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to find novel epitopes that elicit broad and potent antibodies against the coronavirus family and enhance pandemic preparedness. We have developed a highly integrated platform for identification of B cell epitopes against coronaviruses. Our previous studies revealed over ten B cell epitopes on the SARS-CoV-2 spike, through comprehensive characterization and high-resolution structure determination. This project aims to identify novel B cell epitopes on SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses, focusing on conserved and cryptic epitopes that elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies. Specifically, we will (1) identify unexplored epitopes on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, (2) uncover cryptic epitopes that have been largely understudied, and (3) identify pan-sarbecovirus, pan- betacoronavirus, and pan-coronavirus epitopes. Collectively, utilizing diverse donor samples, state-of-the-art multi-bait B cell isolation strategies, and high-throughput structural biology, this research aims to uncover novel B cell epitopes that inform on the design of next-generation vaccines and therapeutics, enhancing our preparedness for future coronavirus pandemics.", "keywords": [ "2019-nCoV", "Antibodies", "Apical", "B-Lymphocyte Epitopes", "B-Lymphocytes", "Binding Sites", "COVID-19 pandemic", "Cell Separation", "Coronavirus", "Coronavirus spike protein", "Disease Outbreaks", "Electron Microscopy", "Epidemic", "Epitope Mapping", "Epitopes", "Exhibits", "FDA Emergency Use Authorization", "Face", "Family", "Future", "Goals", "Grant", "Human", "Immune response", "Immunodominant Epitopes", "Knowledge", "Learning", "Maps", "Messenger RNA", "Middle East Respiratory Syndrome", "Molecular Conformation", "Peptides", "Population", "Prevention", "Proteins", "Public Health", "Readiness", "Research", "Resolution", "SARS coronavirus", "SARS-CoV-2 antibody", "SARS-CoV-2 positive", "SARS-CoV-2 spike protein", "Sampling", "Sarbecovirus", "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome", "Sierra Leone", "Site", "Structure", "Syndrome", "Therapeutic", "Vaccine Design", "Vaccines", "Variant", "Virus", "betacoronavirus", "coronavirus pandemic", "design", "experimental study", "future pandemic", "human coronavirus", "immunogenicity", "neutralizing antibody", "novel", "novel vaccines", "pandemic coronavirus", "pandemic disease", "pandemic preparedness", "polyclonal antibody", "receptor binding", "respiratory", "stem", "structural biology", "vaccine effectiveness", "variants of concern", "zoonotic coronavirus" ], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15721", "attributes": { "award_id": "2528179", "title": "STTR Phase I: Room Temperature Stable, Dry Powder Particle-Based Vaccines Against Influenza", "funder": { "id": 3, "ror": "https://ror.org/021nxhr62", "name": "National Science Foundation", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP)", "STTR Phase I" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 936, "first_name": "Henry", "last_name": "Ahn", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2025-10-01", "end_date": null, "award_amount": 305000, "principal_investigator": { "id": 32602, "first_name": "Sean", "last_name": "Kelly", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [ { "id": 32601, "first_name": "Kathleen", "last_name": "Ross", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "awardee_organization": { "id": 2605, "ror": "", "name": "IMMUNO NANO MED, INC", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "IA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is to demonstrate room-temperature-stable, dry powder inhalable influenza vaccines represent as an innovative, next generation technology to promote the health and welfare of the American public by eliminating the existing pain points of current influenza vaccines. The global influenza vaccine market size is projected to increase to $17.77 billion by 2032. Therefore, the demand for innovative vaccines against seasonal respiratory viruses remains a high priority. These dry powder vaccines introduce a transformative innovation – induction of durable protective immunity that targets both the upper and lower airways via nasal delivery and removing the cold chain due to room-temperature shelf stability, thereby lowering vaccine costs and wastage. This outcome can result in cost savings of up to 80%. The economic and social benefits of this vaccine technology will lead to achieving and maintaining a significant market share of the flu vaccine market. Additionally, this technology’s plug-and-play capability allows swapping pathogen-specific proteins and creating new inhalable room-temperature-stable vaccines for other respiratory pathogens. Altogether, this advance will significantly lower storage costs while improving our nation’s strategic preparedness in stockpiling vaccines against circulating disease, emerging threats, or biowarfare agents. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of producing a novel room-temperature-stable, dry-powder inhalable influenza vaccine and using a new scalable process to manufacture the vaccine. Current flu shots do not provide lung-specific immune responses and require refrigerated storage. This project’s value proposition is to replace current needle-in-the-arm, partially effective flu shots with next-generation vaccines and delivery methods. This project enables the risk-reducing R&D needed to advance a dry powder vaccine manufacturing technology called Payload Reduction and Encapsulation Technology (PRET). The goal is to demonstrate feasibility of this manufacturing method by showing dry powder influenza vaccines synthesized by PRET result in reproducible dry powder vaccine characteristics, high vaccine yields, protection against influenza infection, and room-temperature shelf stability. There are three objectives that will be pursued to demonstrate this: 1) feasibility of achieving initial pilot-scale production and characterization of dry powder influenza vaccines using PRET; 2) dry powder influenza vaccine efficacy compared to traditional flu vaccines; and 3) production of influenza particle-based vaccines using scaled-up engineering runs and evaluation of room-temperature shelf-life. The new paradigm represented by room-temperature-stable, dry powder vaccines has the potential to transform the vaccine-delivery landscape and enhance the nation’s pandemic preparedness. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15740", "attributes": { "award_id": "1R43TR005424-01", "title": "A Novel Approach to Eliminate Length Impurities for High-Quality mRNA Production", "funder": { "id": 4, "ror": "https://ror.org/01cwqze88", "name": "National Institutes of Health", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 32559, "first_name": "PJ", "last_name": "BROOKS", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2025-08-01", "end_date": "2026-07-31", "award_amount": 349746, "principal_investigator": { "id": 32603, "first_name": "Hari", "last_name": "Bhaskaran", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [], "awardee_organization": { "id": 2611, "ror": "", "name": "CISTERNA BIOLOGICS, INC.", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "CA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "With the success of mRNA-based Covid vaccines, there is immense interest in leveraging mRNA technology to develop therapeutics for previously untreatable diseases. However, therapeutic applications, such as protein replacement therapy, cardiovascular regeneration, and cancer immunotherapy, require mRNA of exceptional purity to ensure safety and efficacy. Current mRNA production methods often yield mRNA with impurities, such as double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), long RNA (LRNA), and short truncated (stRNA), which can provoke immune responses and compromise therapeutic outcomes. Cisterna has developed an innovative platform capable of synthesizing high-quality, purified mRNA, devoid of product-related contaminants, making it ideal for therapeutic use while ensuring consistency and reproducibility across batches. In this Phase I SBIR, our goal is to demonstrate the efficacy of our technology in eliminating dsRNA, LRNA, and stRNA compared to conventional methods. We will employ sensitive fluorescence-based methods and assays to quantify and eliminate these impurities, enabling the production of highly pure therapeutic mRNA. Furthermore, we will validate our technology by assessing its impact on immunogenic response and protein expression in mice, aiming for minimal to no immune activation while maintaining or enhancing therapeutic efficacy. Successful completion of this project will provide a validated production platform for contaminant-free mRNA synthesis, paving the way for Phase II studies focused on target identification, construct design, and scale-up manufacturing. The mRNA therapeutics market is poised for significant growth, with biotech and pharmaceutical companies actively developing mRNA-based therapeutics. We aim to leverage potential partnerships to position ourselves as a key player in this dynamic field.", "keywords": [ "Address", "Advanced Development", "Affect", "Antibodies", "Biological Assay", "Biological Products", "Biotechnology", "COVID-19 vaccine", "Cardiovascular system", "Catalytic RNA", "Cellulose", "Consumption", "Detection", "Development", "Disease", "Dose", "Dot Immunoblotting", "Double-Stranded RNA", "Engineering", "Ensure", "Enzymes", "Event", "Excision", "Fluorescence", "Gel", "Goals", "Growth", "Hela Cells", "High Pressure Liquid Chromatography", "Immune", "Immune response", "Innate Immune Response", "Legal patent", "Length", "Longevity", "Luciferases", "Malignant Neoplasms", "Marketing", "Measures", "Messenger RNA", "Metabolic", "Methods", "Modeling", "Mus", "Natural regeneration", "Pharmacologic Substance", "Phase", "Positioning Attribute", "Process", "Production", "RNA", "Rare Diseases", "Recovery", "Reference Standards", "Regimen", "Reproducibility", "Safety", "Sepharose", "Small Business Innovation Research Grant", "Technology", "Technology Assessment", "Testing", "Therapeutic", "Therapeutic Uses", "Time", "Treatment Efficacy", "Validation", "Variant", "Work", "cancer immunotherapy", "commercial application", "cost", "cytokine", "design", "design and construction", "detection limit", "dosage", "drug development", "effective therapy", "enzyme replacement therapy", "high standard", "immune activation", "immunogenic", "immunogenicity", "in vivo", "innovation", "interest", "manufacturing scale-up", "mouse model", "multiplex assay", "novel strategies", "oligo (dT)", "phase 2 study", "prophylactic", "protein expression", "research and development", "response", "success", "therapy development", "therapy outcome", "tool", "transcriptome sequencing" ], "approved": true } }, { "type": "Grant", "id": "15722", "attributes": { "award_id": "2449985", "title": "Strengthening Rural STEM Education: An Evidence-Based Framework for Increasing Student Success", "funder": { "id": 3, "ror": "https://ror.org/021nxhr62", "name": "National Science Foundation", "approved": true }, "funder_divisions": [ "Unknown", "HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti" ], "program_reference_codes": [], "program_officials": [ { "id": 1859, "first_name": "Mike", "last_name": "Ferrara", "orcid": null, "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "start_date": "2025-10-01", "end_date": null, "award_amount": 2100000, "principal_investigator": { "id": 32769, "first_name": "Jessica", "last_name": "Black", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, "other_investigators": [ { "id": 32766, "first_name": "Melissa", "last_name": "Haeffner", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, { "id": 32767, "first_name": "Alexander", "last_name": "Alexiades", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] }, { "id": 32768, "first_name": "SaraBecca", "last_name": "Martin", "orcid": "", "emails": "", "private_emails": "", "keywords": null, "approved": true, "websites": null, "desired_collaboration": null, "comments": null, "affiliations": [] } ], "awardee_organization": { "id": 2606, "ror": "", "name": "Heritage University", "address": "", "city": "", "state": "WA", "zip": "", "country": "United States", "approved": true }, "abstract": "With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Institutional Transformation project aims to develop and implement a comprehensive model for transforming STEM education at a rural institution serving local communities. The project will address academic achievement gaps in STEM fields by fostering strong STEM identities at both institutional and student levels. This work is especially timely as rural, community-based institutions face unique challenges in retaining STEM students, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic's disproportionate impact on college-level preparedness. The project will transform institutional culture through structured dialogue between leadership and STEM stakeholders, professional development for administration, and increased leadership engagement in student-centered STEM events. Through this dual approach of institutional transformation and evidence-based teaching practices, the project will contribute new understanding of how community-based institutions can effectively support all students while preparing them for the global STEM workforce. Through innovative programming and teaching practices, this work will create a model for other institutions across the United States to follow. The project will pursue two complementary objectives: i) enhancing STEM identity in institutional leadership to transform student support networks, and ii) developing innovative experiential learning opportunities across STEM disciplines. Two primary research questions will guide this work: how backgrounds and experiences found in community-based institutions influence STEM identity development, and what knowledge transfer approaches effectively help students develop STEM identities in varied educational contexts. The project will employ multiple research methods including Photovoice documentation during international experiences, reflective student journaling, traditional storytelling approaches during research fellowships, and semi-structured interviews with institutional leaders. Specific interventions include Undergraduate Research Fellowships fostering mentored research experiences and the global interconnectedness of STEM, and comprehensive academic support systems with early intervention strategies. The project will advance the field by generating new knowledge about institutional transformation in rural higher education settings, particularly regarding the relationship between institutional STEM identity and student success. Expected broader impacts include developing a model for mutual exchange between institutional leadership and students that can inform STEM policy development at other institutions, creating a guide for building community-based programs that benefit both students and their surrounding communities in both regional and international settings, and increasing the number of STEM graduates prepared for the workforce. Results will be disseminated through publications in undergraduate education journals, conference presentations, and through the NSF HSI Program Network Resource Centers and Hubs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "keywords": [], "approved": true } } ], "meta": { "pagination": { "page": 1405, "pages": 1424, "count": 14236 } } }