University of Alabama at Birmingham: $4.3 million NIAID grant to help with pandemic preparedness

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for new research in infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Pathology are hoping to continue meeting this need with a new $4.3 million scientific equipment grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The funding will be used to purchase cutting-edge equipment to assist with high-containment research productivity and pandemic preparedness. The new equipment represents major advancements in extended live-cell imaging, dynamic and automated imaging of live cells, the sequencing of hundreds of thousands of single cells, and 3D imaging, among other advancements.

“UAB has the facilities, tools, technology and training that are allowing us to safely work with SARS-CoV-2, influenza, tuberculosis, dimorphic molds and more,” said Sixto M. Leal Jr., M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Pathology, director of Clinical Microbiology at UAB Medicine and director of the UAB Fungal Reference Laboratory. “The equipment we will receive through this grant will be a major step forward for our investigators, and advance work that has the potential to improve the lives of Alabamians and people around the world.”

The new equipment will be purchased and installed over the next 12 months.