Search Grants — Free, No Account Required

Health and Human Services Department

The Clinical Center (CC), an institute/center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is giving notice of the license opportunity for the invention listed below, which is owned by an agency of the U.S. Government and is available to achieve expeditious commercialization of results of federally-funded research and development.

ARVERNE BY THE BAY COMMUNITY CENTER INC

The GreenTech HVAC Training Initiative, spearheaded by Arverne By the Bay Community Center Inc., is a comprehensive educational program designed to train individuals in the Rockaway Peninsula in the installation, maintenance, and operation of energy-efficient HVAC systems.

THE BRONX IS BLOOMING

GREEN engages Bronx community members in hands-on environmental education and stewardship projects, through which participants learn about local ecology while restoring neighborhood park ecosystems to address environmental and public health harms.

Massachusetts Avenue Project, Inc.

To increase food and climate justice and opportunities for young people to engage in the food system in meaningful ways.

Friends of Fishbowl

This project provides a unique opportunity to QTBIPOC artists with little to no curatorial experience, to grow in their professional development while providing the greater community with meaningful art exhibitions on social justice themes centering diverse voices. This project will provide an opportunity to 3 artists to learn how to curate a 1- to 2-months long show. Guest Curators will be responsible for selecting the theme and leading the art exhibition from start to finish, including opening/closing receptions, artist talks, artwalks, and workshop/events that are free and open to the public in order to foster active community engagement. Guest Curators will be provided with mentoring and volunteer support throughout their time. We will be partnering with The Fishbowl gallery by renting and running their space during the project period. Volunteers will be drawn from The Fishbowl community which already has a thriving community and volunteer system.

NIAID - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

During autoimmunity, the body incorrectly identifies “self” molecules as foreign. For example, during multiple sclerosis (MS) attack of myelin in the central nervous system (CNS) leads to neurodegeneration, while during type 1 diabetes (T1D) attack of the pancreas leads to dysregulation of blood glucose. Existing therapies for autoimmunity span immunosuppressants and newer monoclonal antibodies, but even the latter do not distinguish between healthy and self- reactive cells. Thus, while beneficial, existing therapies are not curative, cause immunocompromising side effects, and require life-long compliance. These limitations have motivated efforts to control autoimmunity with vaccine-like specificity, without hindering the normal functions of the immune system. One such antigen-specific tolerance strategy being studied pre-clinically and in human trials is co-delivery of self-peptides and tolerizing immune signals to promote populations, such as regulatory T cells (TREGs), that selectively combat disease. Interestingly, a set of molecules newly-associated with autoimmune disease are toll-like receptors (TLRs). In healthy individuals, TLRs detect pathogen-associated patterns to mobilize innate immunity. However, TLRs - such as TLR9 - are elevated in patients with MS, T1D, and other autoimmune diseases, as well as in pre-clinical models. In the latter case, suppressing TLR9 signaling reduces inflammation, while promoting TREGs and improving disease. Strategies that regulate excess innate signaling could guide T cell differentiating as self-antigens are presented in lymph nodes (LNs) – for example, co-delivery of regulatory cues – to generate large populations of antigen-specific TREGs that selectively stop pathogenic cells without broad suppression. New studies also reveal TREGs can adopt memory functions to maintain tolerance, and in appropriate tissue niches, cause transdifferentiation of inflammatory TH17 cells into TREG. Lymph nodes (LNs) are key tissues that control these processes; polarization toward either inflammatory T cells (e.g., TH17) or TREGs is directed in part by directing dynamic stromal organization to promote and regulate cell interactions. Upstream in the skin, a specialized immune niche exists through concentration of antigen presenting cells (APCs) that also exhibit high levels of TLRs and other innate signaling receptors. Thus, skin is of great interest as a site to target for induction of tolerance. We propose using 3D printed microneedle arrays (MNA) to load self- antigens and regulatory TLR ligands at high densities for efficient delivery to the skin niche. MNAs have been studied for vaccines against pathogens, and recently for tolerance against allergens (foreign antigens), but remain untapped in autoimmune disease as technologies to drive antigen-specific tolerance against self-antigens. We have shown these MNAs arrays durably stop or reverse disease in pre-clinical models of MS: EAE/RR-EAE. We will use this interdisciplinary approach to understand how locally modulating innate signaling in the skin conditions APCs downstream as they migrate and present antigen in LNs, and ultimately, how these changes induce and maintain self-antigen specific TREG for selective, but systemic, long-lasting tolerance. The aims are 1) Show MNAs bias innate (TLR) signaling in skin and skin-resident APCs toward regulation, 2) Define MNA-driven structural & functional changes associated with tolerance in LNs and the CNS, 3) Ascertain the durability of efficacy and maintenance of functional tolerance during EAE/RR-EAE.

NIAID - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Project Summary/Abstract Food allergies are common and life-threatening pediatric conditions, predominantly triggered by specific protein motifs in foods, such as Ara h proteins in peanuts (e.g., Ara h 2). Allergen-specific oral immunotherapy (OIT), in which patients are exposed to increasing doses of allergens to desensitize their immune systems, has emerged as a promising treatment for food allergies. However, OIT induces sustained remission in only a fraction of food- allergic patients, and the factors contributing to treatment response remain elusive. My postdoctoral studies have identified strong relationships between the gut microbiome and the response to peanut OIT (POIT) in the IMPACT clinical trial. We found that children who did not respond to POIT have a distinct gut microbiome composition that is significantly enriched in the Xaa-Xaa-proline tripeptidyl-peptidase (ptpA) gene, which encodes a hydrolase that cleaves tripeptides with a proline residue at the third position from the N-terminal of polypeptides. The copy number of the ptpA gene positively correlates with peanut allergen component (Ara h 2) -specific IgE levels. Additionally, we showed that the gut microbiome can metabolize one of the most proteolysis- resistant allergenic peanut proteins, Ara h 2. The microbiome of those who failed to achieve POIT-induced remission exhibited a significantly increased capacity to metabolize Ara h 2 compared to those who achieved remission. This suggests that enhanced microbial metabolism of allergenic peanut proteins may be associated with POIT failure. This proposal comprises three interlinked but independent investigations. Study 1 will test whether interindividual response to POIT is associated with the gut microbial peanut protein metabolism and specific peanut proteins reaching the lower gastrointestinal tract. Study 1 will also investigate the molecular mechanisms by which the human gut microbiome metabolizes allergenic peanut proteins and aims to isolate specific gut microorganisms with peanut protein metabolism capacity. Study 2 will investigate the role of the gut microbial ptpA gene, which is enriched in POIT non-responders, in peanut protein metabolism. Study 3 will develop engineered probiotic bacteria to produce individual peanut Ara h proteins, offering a novel in situ immunotherapeutic production and delivery approach. Leveraging targeted proteomics, next-generation sequencing, in vitro bioreactor arrays, gnotobiotic mouse models, and clinical samples from the IMPACT clinical trial, this proposal aims to identify the molecular mechanisms by which the human gut microbiome affects POIT efficacy. This research, which bridges the gap between gut microbial protein metabolism and POIT efficacy, has the potential to enhance the effectiveness of OITs, bringing us closer to tailored treatments for food-allergic patients.

NIAID - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Project Summary/Abstract Babesiosis is caused by the intraerythrocytic Apicomplexan parasite Babesia microti (Bm) and is an emerging vector-borne infection transmitted by the Ixodes scapularis (Is) tick in the U.S. that carries significant morbidity and mortality in elderly and immunocompromised hosts. Babesiosis incidence continues to rise, correlating with climate change and seasonal expansion of tick activity in endemic regions like Long Island, NY. While antibiotic treatment is often effective, a subset of patients can present with severe parasitemia, progressive anemia and 1.6% will die of refractory infection. While babesiosis is well-known to be transmitted by Is ticks, it is hypothesized that the emerging and highly invasive Haemaphysalis longicornis (Hl; longhorned tick) in Long Island, NY may act as a competing vector. The invasion of Hl raises public health concerns as it can co-feed on shared vertebrate hosts (e.g., white-tailed deer), exchange tickborne pathogens with other tick species including Is, and reach very high population densities that can contribute to the increasing number of TBDs. However, the capacity for Hl to acquire and transmit Bm to humans remains unclear. This R21 proposal seeks to fill this gap by testing the central hypothesis that Hl is a competent vector for Bm uptake and transmission. In Aim 1, the study team employs a customized artificial membrane tick-feeding system to study Hl acquisition and transmission of Bm. The investigators will infect laboratory-reared Hl ticks with Bm and measure transstadial and transovarial transmission efficiencies, determine parasitic burdens in organ tissues (salivary glands, mid-gut, and ovary), and monitor tick survival. The investigators will also measure capacity for Hl to transmit Bm to a sterile blood reservoir within the AFS. As a control tick species, they will also infect laboratory-reared Is ticks that are known Bm reservoirs. The study team will corroborate findings by using field molecular epidemiology approaches to collect Hl and Is ticks at various geographical locations in Long Island throughout the year and to perform PCR analysis to determine the prevalence of Babesia spp. The study team already has a large library of >3000 ticks that they can immediately begin analyzing with continued active surveillance during the proposal. In Aim 2, the study team employs comparative genomics approaches to identify common Bm gene architecture in blood derived from field ticks and human acute babesiosis cases recruited at their medical center. In this Aim, they also propose parasite culture methods both in vivo and in vitro using human O+ blood to generate laboratory stocks of these circulating strains. The proposal has high potential to identify a competing vector for Bm transmission in an endemic region that will inform strategies for vector control and prevention. The results are expected to be of high impact to the fields of Tickborne diseases and Vector-borne infection biology and will provide important preliminary data to apply for multi-PI R01 applications in 2025/2026 to study tick ecology and vector-borne pathogen transmission, focusing on the polymicrobial nature of tickborne infections.

National Energy Technology Laboratory

HARMONY: Human-Centric Analytics for Resilient & Modernized Power sYstems

City Fruit

City Fruit is planning to execute a Harvest For All -- expanding the harvest and distribution work to include all of Seattle's neighborhoods. During the 2018 Great Seattle Fruit Harvest from July to November, City Fruit will expand its harvest roster to various locations that will include Northgate, Capitol Hill, Central District, and International District. This harvest expansion broadens access to a more equitable neighborly food system.

Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR)

DLNR provides grants for conservation projects that protect Hawaii's unique natural resources, including native species habitat restoration, invasive species control, watershed protection, and marine resource management.

Transportation Department

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) Office of Hazardous Materials Safety (OHMS) will host a public Research, Development, & Technology Forum (Forum) from March 31-April 2, 2026, in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. More details, to include the location, will be posted on the PHMSA website at the link provided below. The Forum will provide an opportunity for PHMSA-funded research projects to present the results of recently completed or ongoing projects. OHMS will discuss upcoming hazardous materials transportation research project plans and obtain stakeholder input on the direction of OHMS's current and future research projects. Potential topics include: <bullet> Efficient Safety Standards <bullet> Risk Reduction for Emergency Response <bullet> Safe Energy Storage Technologies <bullet> Innovative Packaging During the Forum, OHMS will host subject matter experts to discuss a variety of topics affecting the hazardous materials transportation industry. Additionally, OHMS will solicit input and feedback related to potential research topics that may be considered for future work and gather and review research need statements from industry, academia, and other stakeholders. The Forum actively will encourage the identification of critical research gaps in hazardous materials transportation to ensure the transportation community's evolving needs are addressed while advancing the U.S. Department of Transportation's strategic priorities--Safety, Infrastructure Investment, Innovation, and System Efficiency.

Middletown

Health Dept. Mobile Affixed Shelving Shelving System

Schenectady Inner City Ministry

Development of a household hazardous waste collection system for low-income residents in downtown Schenectady

NIAID - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

PROJECT SUMMARY Though the liver produces most of the lymph in the body, the role of hepatic lymphatics in liver disease is relatively less studied. While it is recognized that alterations in hepatic lymphatics cause ascites formation in chronic liver disease like cirrhosis, its contribution to acute liver failure (ALF), like that caused by drugs such as acetaminophen (APAP) are not well characterized. An APAP overdose is the most common cause of ALF in the United States, partly due to the short therapeutic window of the only FDA approved antidote, N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Excess APAP induces centrilobular necrosis, and a failure of inherent liver regeneration in a significant percentage of patients, especially after a severe overdose, causes ALF. Thus, insight into mechanisms of liver recovery which are compromised in patients with ALF, would allow their targeting to complement NAC treatment. One such beneficial phenomenon is the innate immune response induced by hepatocyte necrosis. Though interaction between the infiltrating immune cells and surviving hepatocytes facilitates their regeneration, repopulation of areas of necrosis also requires an orderly exit of the infiltrating immune cells to allow coordinated reestablishment of liver infrastructure and lymphatics to regain functional homeostasis. The lymphatic system is a central mode of immune cell emigration from tissues, and specific pro-resolving lipid mediators (SPMs) facilitate resolution of inflammation. However, their role in immune cell exit after acute APAP-induced ALF is unknown. Our preliminary data shows transient changes in hepatic lymphatics after APAP overdose with elevations in SPMs, which are known to facilitate lymphangiogenesis and immune cell clearance. Blocking lymphangiogenesis after an APAP overdose also extended hepatic residency of immune cells. Treatment with Wharton's Jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJMSC) which are cleared for human use, also enhanced liver recovery in the mouse model with elevation in circulating VEGF-D, which activates lymphangiogenesis. This data led to the hypothesis that hepatic lymphatics play a critical role in immune cell clearance during liver recovery from an APAP overdose, a process facilitated by SPMs which could be targeted by WJMSC treatment to enhance liver recovery. This hypothesis will be tested by 1) evaluating mechanisms of immune cell clearance through hepatic lymphatics after acute APAP overdose, and 2) examining the role of SPMs and immune cell clearance as mechanisms facilitating recovery after delayed treatment with WJMSC. Collectively, we will define the molecular mechanisms responsible for efficient immune cell exit through hepatic lymphatics after reconstruction of areas of hepatic necrosis and study the consequence when this exit is compromised such as ALF. We will also evaluate a therapeutic intervention to enhance recovery, which can be rapidly translated to the clinic.

Hillman City P-Patch

We are planning to refurbish the water system by replacing decaying posts that support the water pipe uprights and spigots with double posts (one to support the pipe and one to hold the hose hanger) and also replace the 8 rusting spigots as needed. We also are improving the chips protection under the large willow tree; we will weed to the drip line, then purchase chips, placing softer arborist chips first then a layer of play chips all to protect the roots and create a safe and clean area for neighbors, gardeners and their children to enjoy. Our garden is used as Open Space for the neighborhood as it is the only area open to the community for several miles around.

LEICA MICROSYSTEMS INC

Laboratory and Measuring and Observing and Testing Equipment

Hartford Food Systems

Historic Restoration Fund

Regional Council Capital Fund - RC4

Hofstra University STEM Center

Hood River County

The Hood River County Library System closed June 30, 2010 due to the inability of the county government to continue funding operations and support. November 2, 2010, the citizens of Hood River County voted to create a Library Special District and elected a library board. District funds will not be available until November 2011. This planning grant will help the elected Board and the County develop necessary processes, procedures and operational models based upon best practices and available funding. As a result of this planning, the County and Board will develop and implement a time line for re-establishing library services. This project has no peer evaluation.

NIGMS - National Institute of General Medical Sciences

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT In the developing embryo, in adult tissues such as the skin and intestine, and in many types of cancer, stem cells exist in close association with a supporting niche. The importance of the niche cannot be overstated. It both regulates stem cells’ ability to self-renew and controls these cells’ survival and differentiation. As a result, niche function influences many aspects of human health and disease. Niche function is often associated with the proximal signals they send to direct stem cell behavior. How a niche coordinates the timing, intensity and duration of the signals controlling stem cell activity remains poorly understood and represents a critical knowledge gap in our understanding of basic stem cell biology. Niches often have a precisely defined spatial organization that includes multiple cellular and extracellular matrix components. This organization is critical for niche function which suggests that niche structure is likely critical for stem cell regulation. My lab’s long-term goal is to discover how the structure and organization of a niche facilitate its ability to precisely control the signaling environment experienced by stem cells. We study the germ line in C. elegans as a model for this process. The germ line’s simple, well-understood developmental program, along with the extensive genetic toolkit and ease of 4D in vivo imaging available in C. elegans, make it an ideal system to investigate the structure and function of a niche. In worms, assembly of a functional niche is essential for controlling germline stem cell quiescence during embryo development and for balancing proliferation and differentiation in larval and adult animals. We focus on two components of niche structure which control these processes and are found in many different types of niches in other animals. First, we are investigating how the organization of the extracellular matrix in the niche contributes to its function. The extracellular matrix provides both biochemical and mechanical signals to adjacent cells. Our research will uncover how this essential niche component is constructed and remodeled during embryonic and larval development, and how it’s mechanical properties determine stem cell quiescence and proliferation. Second, a prominent yet poorly understood feature of many stem cell niches is that niche cells extend membrane protrusions over the surfaces of stem cells. This is called wrapping. We are studying the developmental basis of wrapping in the germline niche to identify fundamental adhesive, signaling and polarity mechanisms driving cellular wrapping. We are also investigating how wrapping functions to modulate the signaling environment experienced by germline stem cells, either by amplifying useful signals from the niche or by excluding signals from surrounding tissues. Our research is uncovering fundamental mechanisms for niche-stem cell regulation, advancing our basic understanding of basement membrane structure and function, and providing new insights into the mechanisms cells use to modulate signal transduction.

Hudson Guild, Inc.

Replacement of the current tile floor throughout the Center, replace existing doors with fire rated and unrated door openings, Wall repair, including: repairing, patching, priming and painting, upgrade elictrical systems, installation of door alarms on al

DEPT OF DEFENSE.DEPT OF THE NAVY.NAVSUP.NAVSUP WEAPON SYSTEMS SUPPORT.NAVSUP WSS MECHANICSBURG.NAVSUP WEAPON SYSTEMS SUPPORT MECH

HULL PENETRATOR

NIAID - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Abstract Recent advancements in immunotherapies have demonstrated the potential of antigen-specific patient-derived T cells to combat various diseases, notably cancer. Concurrently, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived technology offers a customizable, potentially limitless source of human T cells for immunotherapies. However, current efforts to generate functional T cells from iPSCs via in vitro selection fall short in achieving efficient T cell production and often produce aberrant T cell phenotypes compared to those educated in the native thymus. While thymic epithelium derived from iPSCs can support T cell differentiation after in vivo transplantation, there has not been success in identifying suitable mesenchymal cells from iPSCs to support thymic epithelium development ex vivo. Additionally, critical T cell education events involve trafficking from thymic cortical to medullary zones during differentiation but reproducing these zones or trafficking dynamics in vitro has not yet been demonstrated. The patterning of cell assemblies in space and time is crucial to tissue and organ development and is likely key to replicating the cortical and medullary thymic tissue sub-architecture in vitro. While the importance of chemical morphogen gradients has long been appreciated, it is increasingly clear that both the specific ECM molecules to which the cells adhere and the dynamic interaction between cell behavior and the matrix, with its time-varying mechanical properties, are important players in morphogenesis. Thus, tissue organization is impacted by the viscoelastic properties of the matrix, which vary from an elastic solid-like response to a liquid-like viscous response, in addition to ECM stiffness and composition. Our long-term goal is to combine iPSC-derived progenitors at the appropriate developmental stage with biomaterials that mimic thymic niches to scale the production of antigen-specific iPSC-derived human T cells for possible future clinical applications. We hypothesize that combining (1) developmentally matched, isogenic iPSC-derived thymic epithelium and mesenchyme with (2) instructive biomaterials that specify thymic zonal identity and allow for trafficking of differentiating iPSC-lymphoid progenitors between these zones will recreate thymic education in an in vitro platform and address the limitations observed in current iPSC-T cell derivations. We will explore this hypothesis through the following: (Aim 1) Developmentally match iPSC-derived mesenchyme and epithelial progenitors for thymic potential, (Aim 2) Engineer biomaterials and culture systems that mimic cortical and medullary thymic niches, and (Aim 3) Evaluate the impact of thymic mimicking niches on iPSC-derived T cell development and TCR repertoire. Success in this project will provide a robust platform for generating patient-specific T cells with functional competency comparable to thymus-educated T cells, generate insights that will have broad implications for cellular and molecular immunology as well as significantly advance the field of T cell immunotherapy using iPSCs.