Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( 🔒 ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Need Help

A bioinspired strategy for informing drug combination to overcome disease-specificImmunosuppression

Award Number: R21EB036758
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE Of BIOMEDICAL IMAGING & BIOENGINEERING
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 05/06/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 02/28/2029

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

A bioinspired strategy for informing drug combination to overcome disease-specificImmunosuppression - PROJECT SUMMARY Developing immunoregulatory drugs poses challenges due to the necessity for personalized treatments to address diverse immune profiles in different diseases and individuals, as well as the requirement for combination therapy to tackle the complexity of immune dysfunction. However, guidelines for designing personalized combination immunostimulatory therapeutics are lacking. To address this gap, we propose leveraging the body's natural counteracting response to disease-induced immune disorders for drug discovery in this context. Our strategy involves the intelligent utilization of the foreign body response (FBR) within a subcutaneous biomaterial scaffold implant. In health, FBR achieves homeostasis between inflammatory responses to biomaterials and anti-inflammatory biomolecules, thereby mitigating potential tissue damage. In disease, when dysfunctional immune cells infiltrate the implants and disrupt local balance, FBR will overproduce diverse biomolecules to counteract immune disorders, restoring homeostasis to some extent. Our hypothesis posits that by identifying these immunoregulatory biomolecules that assist scaffold implants in overcoming immune disorders, we can develop them into personalized combination drugs and administer them systemically to mitigate immune disorders in major organs. We will employ immunosuppression as a disease model to validate our hypothesis and seek combination drugs tailored to cancer immunosuppression and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) tolerance with varying host immunity profiles. The success of this project will offer a smart strategy to design personalized combination therapies for immune disorders across diseases.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $182,558 )
2026	2026	IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY	1350 BEARDSHEAR HALL	AMES	IA	50011	STORY	USA	Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health	000	1	5/7/2026	NEW	$182,558
														Subtotal = $182,558

Grand Total All Awards = $182,558

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

A bioinspired strategy for informing drug combination to overcome disease-specificImmunosuppression

Award Number: R21EB036758

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE Of BIOMEDICAL IMAGING & BIOENGINEERING

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 05/06/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 02/28/2029

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer