U24AI165424

Establishment of a bat resource for infectious disease research - Bats are reservoirs, or suspected reservoirs, of many zoonotic viruses, including SARS, SARS2 and MERS coronaviruses, and Ebola, Sudan and Marburg viruses.

Little is known about how these viruses circulate in their bat reservoirs, principally because of a lack of bat colonies that can be used for the development of experimental infection models.

To address this deficiency, we have established a breeding colony of Jamaican fruit bats (Artibeus jamaicensis) and will establish a breeding colony of Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) as a resource for investigators who study these viruses.

Egyptian fruit bats are the principal natural reservoir of Marburg virus and Sosuga virus, both of which are human pathogens.

Jamaican fruit bats are the best studied bat model for infectious diseases and we have demonstrated that they are a model organism for Ebola and Marburg virus infections.

We will generate primary cell cultures and immortalized cell lines from various tissues from these species and freeze live bone marrow that will be useful for studying how these viruses infect bat cells, and how the viruses may modulate the innate immune responses.

Recombinant cytokines will also be produced for the research community, including those for generating macrophages and dendritic cells (GM-CSF, FLT3L), T cells (IL-2, IL-7, IL-15) and for in vivo modulation of the adaptive immune response (IFNΓ, IL-4).

Moreover, we will generate monoclonal antibodies for use in cytokine detection assays and flow cytometry of immune cell subsets and in vivo neutralization.

Finally, we will perform experimental infection studies with Ebolaviruses, Sosuga virus, and the SARS-related coronaviruses, Banal-52 and Banal-236, to study the infection kinetics, virus distribution and transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic profiles of bats during infection, and escalation and resolution of the immune response.

Tissues, cells and sera from naïve and infected bats will be archived in a biobank that will be made available to the research community upon virus inactivation.

The establishment of this resource will lead to a better understanding of how bats host highly pathogenic viruses without disease and may shed light on events that increase spillover risks to humans.

In turn, this information could lead to development of mitigation strategies to prevent future virus spillover and uncover new strategies for therapeutic treatment of coronavirus and Nipah virus diseases.

Colorado State University

TO ASSIST PUBLIC AND PRIVATE NONPROFIT INSTITUTIONS AND INDIVIDUALS TO ESTABLISH, EXPAND AND IMPROVE BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND RELATED AREAS, TO CONDUCT DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH, TO PRODUCE AND TEST RESEARCH MATERIALS. TO ASSIST PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND COMMERCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO CONDUCT DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH, TO PRODUCE AND TEST RESEARCH MATERIALS, TO PROVIDE RESEARCH SERVICES AS REQUIRED BY THE AGENCY FOR PROGRAMS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES, AND CONTROLLING DISEASE CAUSED BY INFECTIOUS OR PARASITIC AGENTS, ALLERGIC AND IMMUNOLOGIC DISEASES AND RELATED AREAS. PROJECTS RANGE FROM STUDIES OF MICROBIAL PHYSIOLOGY AND ANTIGENIC STRUCTURE TO COLLABORATIVE TRIALS OF EXPERIMENTAL DRUGS AND VACCINES, MECHANISMS OF RESISTANCE TO ANTIBIOTICS AS WELL AS RESEARCH DEALING WITH EPIDEMIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS OR COMMUNITY POPULATIONS AND PROGRESS IN ALLERGIC AND IMMUNOLOGIC DISEASES. BECAUSE OF THIS DUAL FOCUS, THE PROGRAM ENCOMPASSES BOTH BASIC RESEARCH AND CLINICAL RESEARCH. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM EXPANDS AND IMPROVES PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH. THE SBIR PROGRAM INTENDS TO INCREASE AND FACILITATE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. THE SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM STIMULATES AND FOSTERS SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. RESEARCH CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARDS SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTISTS DURING THE FORMATIVE STAGES OF THEIR CAREERS. INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARDS (NRSAS) ARE MADE DIRECTLY TO APPROVE APPLICANTS FOR RESEARCH TRAINING IN SPECIFIED BIOMEDICAL SHORTAGE AREAS. IN ADDITION, INSTITUTIONAL NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARDS ARE MADE TO ENABLE INSTITUTIONS TO SELECT AND MAKE AWARDS TO INDIVIDUALS TO RECEIVE TRAINING UNDER THE AEGIS OF THEIR INSTITUTIONAL PROGRAM.

93.855 - Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) [HHS - NIH]

Fort Collins, Colorado 805214593 United States

Single Zip Code

NIAID Resource-Related Research Projects (R24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (PAR-20-063)