COVID-19 has been the deadliest, most widespread pandemic caused by a coronavirus in known history. However, SARS-CoV-2 continues to mutate, leading to new viral variants, and it is not the only coronavirus with pandemic potential. Developing a vaccine capable of fighting a diverse group of coronaviruses and viral variants remains a priority for NIAID.
In September of 2021, NIAID awarded $36.3 million across three awards to support the development of “pan-coronavirus” vaccines. Since this announcement, NIAID has awarded an additional $26.1 million for four additional “pan-coronavirus” vaccine grant awards, listed at the end of this post. A vaccine capable of targeting the entire family of viruses could be a valuable early tool in quelling new outbreaks and preventing pandemics. These awards are designed to help researchers discover, design, and develop vaccine candidates that provide broad protective immunity to multiple kinds of coronaviruses, and which could be an important tool in preventing future pandemics.
The awards are designed to support multidisciplinary research teams at each institution and support collaborative efforts to incorporate understanding of coronavirus virology and immunology, immunogen design, and innovative vaccine and adjuvant platforms and technologies. Additional awards may be issued in the future.
Awards issued after the September 2021 announcement include:
Rockefeller University, New York
Project Title: Broad Neutralization of Pandemic Threat Coronaviruses
Grant: 1 P01 AI165075-01
University of Washington, Seattle
Project Title: Structure-Based Design of Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccines
Grant: 1 P01 AI167966-01
Washington University, St. Louis
Project The Development and Evaluation of Pan-Coronavirus Vaccines
Grant: 1 P01 AI168347-01
Wistar Institute, Philadelphia
Project Title: Structural Vaccinology Guided Development of a Universal CoV Vaccine Utilizing Nucleic Acid Delivered Nanoparticles
Grant: 1 P01 AI165066-01
Awards previously announced:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Project Title: PanCorVac (Center for Pan-Coronavirus Vaccine Development)
Grant: 1 P01 AI165077-01
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
Project Title: Discovering Durable Pan-Coronavirus Immunity
Grant: 1 P01 AI165072-01
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Project Title: Design and Development of a Pan-Betacoronavirus Vaccine
Grant: 1 P01 AI158571-01A1