Immunology Institute Pilot Project Program Awards Funding to Three Research Projects

The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Immunology Institute Pilot Project program has selected three research projects to award funding during its inaugural year.

The three projects awarded include:

• “Oncometabolic regulation of the immune response and immunotherapy efficacy in kidney cancer,” led by Sunil Sudarshan, M.D., professor in the Department of Urology, and Lyse Norian, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences.
• “Elucidating interactive network of NKT and NK cell populations and skin cells in Hidradenitis suppurativa pathogenesis,” led by Chander Raman, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Dermatology, and Lin Jin, instructor in the Department of Dermatology.
• “RANK signaling mechanism in the immune system,” led by Xu Feng, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Pathology.

The pilot grant program received matching funding from the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, so the three awarded projects will be funded for one to two years.

The pilot grant program is housed in the Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine’s Immunology Institute and serves as a central focal point for coordinating immunologic research across various disciplines. The program seeks to support and foster multidisciplinary collaborations, especially between UAB clinicians and basic and physician scientists.

UAB immunology-focused investigators actively explore the power of the immune system to treat and prevent infectious diseases, transplant organ rejection, autoimmunity, allergy, cancer and numerous inflammatory-based conditions.