CCHI supports mechanistic and hypothesis-testing studies to discover novel molecules, mechanisms, or regulatory pathways governing function of the human immune system in both healthy and vulnerable populations (i.e., across lifespan, organ/tissue transplant recipients, and pregnant women).
Main Areas of Focus
- To support research on human immune system regulation and function for the discovery and characterization of new principles of human immunology for the prevention and treatment of infectious and immune-mediated diseases.
- To support the development of new technologies to study the human immune system.
- To support the stable, flexible, centralized infrastructure needed to promote and coordinate multi-disciplinary research in human immunology.
Contact Information
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- University of Alabama at Birmingham
- La Jolla Institute for Immunology
- Washington University
- University of Maryland Baltimore
- Jackson Laboratory
- Northwestern University at Chicago
- Stanford University
- Emory University
Cooperative Centers on Human Immunology (CCHI)
Established in 2003 by NIAID, the long-term goal of the Cooperative Centers on Human Immunology (CCHI) program is to translate immunology research into clinical applications in humans in the areas of infectious disease and immune-mediated diseases.
Consortium for Food Allergy Research (CoFAR)
The Consortium for Food Allergy Research (CoFAR) was established in fiscal year (FY) 2005 to support clinical research on food allergy. It has been renewed multiple times, most recently in FY 2024, to continue conducting clinical trials and observational studies on many aspects of food allergy.
Main Areas of Focus
- To identify the mechanisms underlying the development of new food allergy and the mechanisms of outgrowing food allergy (i.e., emergence of oral tolerance to food allergens)
- To develop immune intervention strategies for the treatment and the prevention of food allergy
- To develop biomarkers to improve and simplify the diagnosis of food allergy
- To identify the genes and the epigenetic alterations associated with food allergy
Currently Funded Projects
CoFAR comprises one Leadership Center and ten Clinical Research Centers (CRCs).
Leadership Center
Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
Principal Investigators: Robert A. Wood (JHU), Supinda Bunyavanich and Scott H. Sicherer
(Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)
Grant number UM1-AI182034-01
Clinical Research Centers
Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute
Principal Investigator: Stacie M. Jones
Grant number U01-AI181962-01
Boston Children's Hospital
Principal Investigator: Rima Rachid
Grant number U01-AI181964-01
Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center
Principal Investigators: Amal Halim Assa’ad, Marc E. Rothenberg
Grant number U01-AI181966-01
Icahn School Of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Principal Investigator: Scott H. Sicherer
Grant number U01-AI181883-01
Johns Hopkins University
Principal Investigator: Robert A. Wood
Grant number U01-AI182032-01
Northwestern University at Chicago
Principal Investigators: Ruchi S. Gupta, Maria Cecilia Berin
Grant number U01-AI181897-01
Stanford University
Principal Investigators: Sayantani B. Sindher, R. Sharon Chinthrajah
Grant number U01-AI182039-01
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Principal Investigators: James R. Baker, Johann Eli Gudjonsson, Charles F. Schuler
Grant number U01-AI181882-01
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Principal Investigators: Edwin Kim, Corinne Keet
Grant number U01-AI182033-01
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Principal Investigators: Leonard B. Bacharier, Rachel Glick Robison
Grant number U01-AI181927-01
Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation in Children (CTOT-C)
The Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation in Children (CTOT-C) program focuses on the specific challenges associated with pediatric organ transplantation. This program is a continuation of the first NIAID pediatric transplantation clinical trial consortium, the Cooperative Clinical Trials in Pediatric Transplantation program.
Read more about this network: Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation in Children
Main Areas of Focus
- To improve short and long-term graft and patient survival in children who have undergone heart, lung, or kidney transplantation
Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation (CTOT)
The Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation (CTOT) program is an investigative consortium that conducts clinical and associated mechanistic studies to improve outcomes for transplant recipients.
Read more about this network: Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation (CTOT)
Main Areas of Focus
- To improve short and long-term graft and patient survival
Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium (CITC)
The Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium is a network of clinical centers and a data coordinating center established in 2004 to conduct studies of islet transplantation in patients with type 1 diabetes.
Read more about this network: Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium (CITC)
Main Areas of Focus
- To improve the isolation and viability of islets
- To reduce complications of the islet transplant procedure (e.g., bleeding and clotting in the blood vessels of the liver)
- To reduce the side effects of immunosuppression
- To achieve good blood sugar control without hypoglycemia
- To follow the fate of islets after transplantation and determining why donor islets sometimes fail
- To evaluate new ways to safely prevent immune rejection of donor tissues
Autoimmunity Centers of Excellence (ACE)
NIAID established the Autoimmunity Centers of Excellence (ACE) in 1999 to conduct collaborative basic and clinical research on autoimmune diseases. The ACE program enables close interaction between clinicians and basic researchers to accelerate the discovery, development, and translation of therapies for autoimmune diseases from the lab to use in the clinic. The program has been renewed multiple times, most recently in fiscal year 2024.
Read more about this network: Autoimmunity Centers of Excellence (ACE)
Main Areas of Focus
- To encourage and enable collaborative research – across scientific disciplines, across medical specialties, and between basic and clinical scientists – in the search for effective treatments for autoimmune diseases
- To evaluate the safety and efficacy of treatment strategies for autoimmune diseases
- To explore the immune mechanisms underlying efficacy of agents evaluated in these ACE clinical trials
Currently Funded Projects
The ACE program includes five U19 cooperative agreements supporting basic research and three UM1 cooperative agreements conducting clinical trials in autoimmune disease.
Basic Research Projects
A Mechanistic Understanding of B Cell and Macrophage Plasticity in Lupus Disease Activity States
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
Principal Investigator: Anne Davidson and Betty Diamond
Award Number: U19AI144306
An Autoimmune Center of Excellence for the Study of IgG4-Related Disease
Massachusetts General Hospital
Principal Investigator: Shiv Subramaniam Pillai
Award Number: U19AI110495
Identifying New Immunotherapeutic Targets for Endocrine Autoimmunity
University of California, Los Angeles
Principal Investigator: Maureen A. Su
Award Number: U19AI181729
Immune Cells and Secretory Pathways Leading to Human Systemic Autoimmunity
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Principal Investigator: Maria Virginia Pascual
Award Number: U19AI144301
Regulation of B cell Responses in SLE and Other Autoimmune Diseases
Emory University
Principal Investigator: Ignacio E. Sanz
Award Number: U19AI110483
Clinical Projects
Johns Hopkins Autoimmunity Center of Excellence
Johns Hopkins University
Principal Investigator: Julie Jisun Paik
Award Number: UM1AI181725
Oklahoma ACE: Molecular Destruction of Autoimmune Disease to Aid Clinical Trail Success
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
Principal Investigator: Judith A. James
Award Number: UM1AI144292
Targeting T Cell Subsets in Autoimmune Disease
Massachusetts General Hospital
Principal Investigator: John H. Stone
Award Number: UM1AI144295
Atopic Dermatitis Research Network (ADRN)
The ADRN is a consortium of academic medical centers that conduct clinical research studies to learn more about skin infections associated with atopic dermatitis. The ADRN program was established in 2004 and has been renewed four times, most recently in 2020. In its prior iterations, the program has examined various aspect of the cutaneous immune system and generated pivotal knowledge on the structure and function of the skin, including abnormalities of the skin barrier, the generation of anti-microbial peptides, the skin’s lipidomic profile, and its susceptibility to Staphylococcus aureus colonization.
Read more about this network: Atopic Dermatitis Research Network (ADRN)
Main Areas of Focus
- To understand host defense mechanisms and immune system responses in the skin by comparing responses to viral and bacterial skin infections in healthy individuals with those in people with atopic dermatitis
- To understand more about the immune system of atopic dermatitis patients, which may lead to new therapeutic targets that minimize the likelihood of cutaneous infections that frequently exacerbate this disease
LEADS
Longitudinal Endotyping of Atopic Dermatitis Through Transcriptomic Skin Analysis (LEADS) is a prospective study involving patients with atopic dermatitis with various levels of severity. The study analyzes the activity of genes that are expressed in the skin in order to guide future new treatments and provide a more personalized approach to the management of this condition. Participants receive approved therapies for atopic dermatitis, and therapy may be stepped up depending on efficacy. At every stage of treatment, skin samples are collected using a specialized, noninvasive dermatologic skin tape as well as skin biopsies. More information about LEADS can be found here.
TIME-2
Targeted Investigation of Microbiome 2 Treat Atopic Dermatitis (TIME-2) is a clinical trial involving patients ages 12 and older with atopic dermatitis whose skin carries the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. The trial will assess if application of a cream that contains another bacterium thought to be beneficial, Staphylococcus hominis A9, compared to a cream that does not contain any bacteria, will provide atopic dermatitis control over 12 weeks by protecting the skin and minimizing skin inflammation. Participants will receive standard therapy for their atopic dermatitis, and skin samples will be collected during the study.
ADRN includes one Leadership Center and six Clinical Research Centers.
Leadership Center
National Jewish Health
Principal Investigator: Donald Leung
Award: UM1AI151958
Clinical Research Centers
University of Rochester
Principal Investigator: Lisa Beck
Award: U01AI152011
Boston Children’s Hospital
Principal Investigators: Raif Geha and Wanda Phipatanakul
Award: U01AI152033
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Principal Investigator: Gurjit Khurana Hershey
Award: U01AI152034
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Principal Investigator: Emma Guttman
Award: U01AI152036
National Jewish Health
Principal Investigators: Donald Leung and Elena Goleva
Award: U01AI152037
University of California, San Diego
Principal Investigator: Richard Gallo
Award: U01AI152038
A list of publications from current ADRN awardees can be accessed here.
US Immunodeficiency Network (USIDNET)
The United States Immunodeficiency Network, a NIH-funded research program of the Immune Deficiency Foundation, was established to advance scientific research in primary immunodeficiency (PI) diseases.
Read more about this network: US Immunodeficiency Network (USIDNET)
Main Areas of Focus
- To assemble and maintain a registry of validated data from patients with PI diseases in order to provide a comprehensive picture of each disorder and act as a resource for clinical and laboratory research
- To maintain an open and unrestricted central repository of rare materials, such as cell lines derived from samples of patients with PI diseases
- To provide multifaceted mentoring programs to introduce new investigators into the field and stimulate interest and research in primary immunodeficiency diseases
- To assist highly qualified junior faculty or committed senior fellows for travel grants to attend focused PI meetings
- To interface with the Disease-specific Working Groups to foster novel research initiatives
- To launch the new initiative for collecting data on infants with abnormal newborn screening
- To engage the patient community through services such as the electronic personal health record for the primary immunodeficiency community
Asthma and Allergic Diseases Cooperative Research Centers (AADCRCs)
The AADCRC program is the cornerstone of NIAID efforts to promote multidisciplinary basic and clinical research on the immunological basis, pathobiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of asthma and allergic diseases.
Main Areas of Focus
- Investigate the immune system’s role in the development, treatment, and prevention of asthma and allergic diseases
- Determine how immune responses to viral and microbial infection may contribute to the development or worsening of asthma and allergic diseases
- Determine how the microbiomes of the environment and those within various parts of the body may play a preventive role or contribute to the development or worsening of asthma and allergic diseases
- Understand the role of pollution and environmental exposures in the development, persistence, and worsening of asthma
- Investigate the role of epithelial-immune and/or neuroimmune interactions in the development, persistence, and severity of allergic diseases
- Assess mechanisms of allergen immunotherapy-induced clinical desensitization and tolerance for the treatment of asthma and allergic diseases, and improve the efficacy, safety, and ease of use of this therapeutic modality
- Investigate genetic variations and epigenetic alterations affecting host immune responses to allergens, and patient responses to therapeutic interventions in asthma and allergic diseases
- Translate discoveries into medical practice, with a focus on immune-based therapies and preventive approaches for asthma and allergic diseases
AADCRC investigators conduct clinical research studies on asthma and allergic diseases, as well as respiratory infections.
Using an integrated approach that combines basic, translational, and clinical research on asthma and allergic diseases, AADCRC investigators have made many scientific advances.
Accelerating Medicines Partnership Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Network (AMP)
The Accelerating Medicines Partnership is a public-private collaboration among the National Institutes of Health, pharmaceutical companies, and non-profit organizations.
The goal of the work is to pinpoint the genes, proteins, and cell signaling pathways involved in disease pathogenesis and response to current therapies, and to identify tissue specific targets for new therapies. Network researchers are employing emerging single cell technologies, big data tools, and invaluable samples obtained from consenting rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients or lupus patients. All results from this partnership will be made available to medical researchers and to the public.
Main Areas of Focus
- To better understand the underlying disease process and identify parts of the immune system that aren't functioning correctly in people with RA and lupus
- To find targeted, effective therapies for RA and lupus through the analysis of genes, proteins, chemical pathways, and networks involved at a single cell level