Award
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 1R01AI195722-01
Elucidating how environmental perturbations determine the duration of enteric viral infection
Recipient
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Award Amount
$627,483.00
Ceiling
$627,483.00
Awarded
March 30, 2026
Identifier
1R01AI195722-01
Research project funded by NIAID to study how environmental stress affects the duration of enteric viral infections using animal models, focusing on immune evasion and stress hormone effects to inform intervention strategies.
Description
This project uses a newly established animal model of chronic astrovirus infection to understand how stressful conditions determine the duration of intestinal infections. The research aims to reveal mechanisms of immune evasion by the virus, including the role of goblet cells as immune-privileged niches, and how stress responses mediated by glucocorticoids influence viral clearance, particularly through the glucocorticoid-CD8 T cell axis. The findings may inform strategies to reduce the duration of viral infections and transmission windows.