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Active Grant Awards

Dr. Nitin Karandikar received a Merit Award from the Department of Veteran Affairs. The title of the project is Effector-Regulator Immune Interactions During Autoimmune Demyelinating Disease. The total direct costs for this award are $1,200,000. The funding period for this project is January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2026.

Dr. John Harty received a five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The grant is entitled Immunity to Liver-stage Malaria. The total direct costs for this award are $1,832,935 and the funding period for this project is January 12, 2022 through December 31, 2026.

Dr. Nitin Karandikar renewed his Merit Award from the Department of Veteran Affairs. The title of the project is Immunotherapeutic Regulatory CD8 T cells in Autoimmune Demyelinating Disease. The total direct costs for the award are $710,000 and the funding period is July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2025.

Dr. Dao-Fu Dai received a three-year Scientist Development Grant from the American Heart Association. The grant is entitled The Role of Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) in Cardiomyocytes. The total direct costs for this award are $70,000 and the funding period for this project is July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2024.

Dr. Marco Hefti received a Junior Research Program of Excellence grant award from the University of Iowa Neuroscience Institute. The title of the project is Developmental Insights into Alzheimer Disease Pathogenesis. The total direct costs for this award are $300,000 and the funding period is July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023.

Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam received a four-year Merit Award from the Department of Veteran Affairs. The title of the project is Effect of Gut Microbiome Dysbiosis in the Pathobiology of Multiple Sclerosis.  The total direct costs for this award are $1,200,000 and the funding period is January 01, 2021 to December 31, 2024.

Dr. Marco Hefti received a pilot grant from the Carver College of Medicine Iowa Aging Initiative. The title of the project is Developmental Insights into Tau-14-3-3 Interaction in Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias. The total direct costs for this award are $150,000. The funding period for this project is August 10, 2020 to August 9, 2022.

Dr. Alexander Boyden received a two-year NIH R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The grant is entitled Role of B cell Interactions in CNS Autoimmune Demyelination. The total direct costs for this award are $275,000 and the funding period for this project is March 10, 2021 through February 28, 2023.

Dr. Hasem Habelhah received a two-year NIH R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The title of this project is Therapeutic Efficacies of Neutrophil Elastase and RIP1 Inhibitors in Acute Lung Injury. The total direct costs for this award are $275,000. The entire period for this project is December 1, 2020 through November 30, 2022.

Drs. John Harty and Vladimir Badovinac and received a two-year R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The grant is entitled Evaluation of CC (Collaborative Cross) Mice as an Improved Model for Influenza Immunity. The total direct costs for this award are $275,000 and the funding period for this project is March 1, 2020 through February 28, 2022.

Dr. Vladimir Badovinac received a five-year NIH MIRA(Maximizing Investigators' Research Award) R35 award from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH/NIGMS). The title of the project is Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Controlling Sepsis-induced Immunoparalysis State. The total direct costs for this award are $1,250,000 and the funding period for this project is February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2025.

Dr. Jia Luo received a four-year Merit Award from the Department of Veteran Affairs. The grant is entitled Thiamine Deficiency and Alcohol-induced Neurodegeneration. The total direct costs for this award are $600,000 and the funding period ends December 31, 2022.

Dr. Jia Luo received a five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH/NIAAA). The grant is entitled GSK3BETA, A Mediator of Ethanol Neurotoxicity. The total direct costs for this award are $1,125,000 and the funding period ends April 30, 2022.

Drs. Vladimir Badovinac and John Harty received a five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The grant is entitled Memory CD8 T Cell Localization and Protection from Influenza. The total direct costs for this award are $1,489,525 and the funding period for this project is January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2024.

Dr. Andrean Simons-Burnett received a four-year Merit Award from the Department of Veteran Affairs. The title of the project is IL-1-based immunotherapy in HNSCC. The total direct costs for this award are $650,000. The funding period for this project is January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2023.

Dr. Munir Tanas received a five-year NIH R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI). The title of the project is Epigenetic Modulation of the TAZ-CAMTA1 Transcriptional Program by the Ada2a-containing Histone Acetyltransferase (ATAC) Complex. The total direct costs for this award are $1,143,750. The entire period for this project is December 15, 2019 through November 30, 2024.

Dr. Marco Hefti received a five-year NIH K23 grant from the National Institutes of Health/ National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke (NIH/NINDS). The title of the project is Novel Tau-based Diagnostics for Neonatal Hypoxic-ischemic Injury. The total direct costs for this award are $880,000. The funding period for this project is September 30, 2019 to August 31, 2024.

Dr. Vladimir Badovinac received a two-year NIH R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The title of the project is Differentiation of Pathogen-Specific Memory CD8 T Cell Responses. The total direct costs for this award are $275,000. The entire period for this project is May 22, 2019 through April 30, 2022.

Dr. Dao-Fu Dai received a five-year NIH K08 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI). The title of the project is The Role of Energy Sensor Signaling in Mitochondrial Cardiomyopathy. The total direct costs for this award are $803,140. The funding period for this project is February 1, 2019 to December 31, 2023.

Dr. John Harty received a five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The grant is entitled T Resident Memory in the Lung. The total direct costs for this award are $1,711,390 and the funding period for this project is November 23, 2018 through October 31, 2023.

Dr. John Harty received a five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The grant is entitled Understanding Immune Regulation in Blood-stage Malaria. The total direct costs for this award are $1,169,236 and the funding period for this project is July 7, 2018 through June 30, 2022.

Dr. Ashu Mangalam received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The title of the grant is Linking diet, gut microbiota and autoimmune disease: Bacteria induced phytoestrogen metabolites impact immune function in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalitis. The total direct funding for this award is $1,000,000 and the project period is February 15, 2018 through January 31, 2023.

Drs. Kevin Legge and Thomas Waldschmidt received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The title of this grant is Nanovaccine-Mediated Immune Protection Against Influenza Virus. The total direct funding for this award is $2,226,287 and the project period is June 1, 2017 through May 31, 2022.

Dr. Jian Zhang received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The title of this project is Regulation of Innate Immune System Sensing of C. Albicans Infections. The total direct costs for this award are $1,395,000. The entire period for this project is April 1, 2016 through March 31, 2022.

Dr. Jian Zhang received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The title of this project is NEDD4 in T Helper Cell Development and Autoimmunity. The total direct costs for this award are $1,657,000. The entire period for this project is June 20, 2016 through May 31, 2022.

Dr. Jian Zhang received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The title of this project is Role of Protein Ubiquitination in Sepsis. The total direct costs for this award are $1,125,000. The entire period for this project is June 24, 2016 through May 31, 2022.

Dr. Nitin Karandikar received grant funding from the National Institute of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). The title of this project is Immune Dysregulation During Multiple Sclerosis Relapse. The total direct costs for this award are $2,401,480. The period for this project is May 19, 2016 through April 30, 2022.