Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) announced over 10 research grants, totaling 13.2 million dollars, awarded in the latter half of 2025.
One of these grants included $5 million to support clinical trial development to prevent type 1 diabetes (T1D). BRI scientists Carla Greenbaum, MD, and Kurt Griffin, MD, PhD, are developing clinical trials through TrialNet that shift the focus from therapies that only treat the symptoms of T1D to therapies that target immune-mediated beta-cell destruction to prevent the disease from progressing altogether. These funds will go towards screening individuals at risk, enrolling participants in clinical trials, developing studies to compare effectiveness of therapies and expanding clinician education around T1D prediction and available therapies.
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (2U01DK103282-11).
Another grant awarded $687,422 to BRI investigator Estelle Bettelli, PhD, to study autoreactive CD4+ T cells in a lab model of multiple sclerosis (MS). These autoreactive T cells are implicated in disease-driven destruction of central nervous system (CNS) tissue, and BRI researchers believe that understanding their function may lead to novel therapies for MS and other autoimmune diseases of the CNS.
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (1R01AI188464-01A1).
Carmen Mikacenic, MD, received an administrative supplement amounting to $304,629 in support of an ongoing project that aims to profile systemic immune signatures underlying immune responses to viral infections. This project is specifically interested in the effects of viral infection in vulnerable populations, such as children and adults with asthma, atopy, obesity and chronic inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (5U19AI167891-04).
Another administrative supplement was awarded to BRI president, Jane Buckner, MD, and Cate Speake, PhD, in the amount of $526,999. The funds will go towards the Exposome in Autoimmune Disease Collaborating Teams (EXACT) Network, which studies how environmental exposures, such as wildfire smoke and PFAS (forever chemicals), influence autoimmune disease susceptibility, onset and outcomes.
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (3R21AR084042-01S2).
In addition to these awards, BRI team members received nine other grants supporting new and ongoing projects. Details of the grants include:
- Evaluating the role of high-dose influenza vaccine in people with Down syndrome under age 65, Cate Speake, PhD, and Bernard Khor, MD, PhD. Amount: $286,793. Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
- NIH Tetramer Core Facility, Bill Kwok, PhD. Amount: $25,000. Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
- Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) UM1 Grant
- “Analysis of CD127 “Tex” T Cell Subset,” Alice Long, PhD. Amount: $53,304
- “CD4 Tetramer Investigation of Antigen Specificity in T1DAL, a T1D Trial,” Bill Kwok, PhD. Amount: $147,188
- “Investigation of TIGIT+PD1+ Differentiation by Single-Cell ATAC Sequencing,” Alice Long, PhD. Amount: $151,613
- “CyTOF Study of First Seven Subjects in DESIGNATE,” Alice Wiedeman, PhD. Amount: $76,757
- “Immunophenotyping and Natural History of T1D,” Alice Wiedeman, PhD. Amount: $6,230
- “Bulk RNAseq Study of IL-2 RAPA Tregs,” Daniel Campbell, PhD. Amount: $42,738
- NIDDK Supplement, Jane Buckner, MD. Amount: $2,344,018. Sponsor: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- LYNX Supplement, Jane Buckner, MD. Amount: $1,252,967. Sponsor: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- Spatial Transcriptomics Supplement, Jane Buckner, MD. Amount: $2,110,887. Sponsor: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- “Immune Responses to Human Fecal Bacterium Antigens in Established RA,” Eddie James, PhD. Amount: $36,360. Sponsor: University of Colorado, Denver
- Prediction and Prevention of Autoimmune Disease Meeting, Carla Greenbaum, MD. Amount: $140,872. Funder: The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
- “Integrin Autoantibodies in the Pathogenesis of Ulcerative Colitis,” Adam Lacy-Hulbert, PhD. Amount: $15,000. Sponsor: Kenneth Rainin Foundation
For more information about BRI, visit www.benaroyaresearch.org.
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