Award
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 1R21AI196587-01
Characterizing NLRP11 Activation by Mycobacteria to Enhance Innate Immune Responses
Recipient
VOLKER BRIKEN
Award Amount
$421,720.00
Ceiling
$421,720.00
Awarded
February 02, 2026
Identifier
1R21AI196587-01
This award funds research to understand how the NLRP11/caspase-4 inflammasome recognizes mycobacteria, aiming to identify ligands and genes involved, which could enhance tuberculosis vaccine development.
Description
The project aims to characterize how the non-canonical NLRP11/caspase-4 inflammasome recognizes mycobacteria, including screening mycobacterial species and subcellular fractions to identify ligands, and conducting a genetic gain-of-function screen to discover genes encoding for the ligands. The discovery of a novel ligand from Mycobacterium tuberculosis could significantly advance structure-function analysis of the inflammasome and improve tuberculosis vaccine immunogenicity.