# Immunoengineering Postdoctoral Training Program - Resubmission - 1

> **NIH NIH T32** · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 2021 · $218,344

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
The objective of this new Immuno-Engineering Postdoctoral Training (ImEPosT) Program is to train a new
generation of interdisciplinary scientists in the emerging field of immunoengineering, by taking advantage of
the strengths of University of Chicago mentors in identifying the most pressing questions in immunology and
combining that with a growing body of bioengineers who create new tools, technologies, and algorithms to
push the technical boundaries to address those questions. Anchored by a collegial and cohesive body of 36
mentors across the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) and the Biological Sciences Division
(BSD), The ImEPosT program will select the most promising postdoctoral trainees from bioengineering and
immunology backgrounds to participate on a two-year program of collaborative research across the
immunology-bioengineering interface that includes a flexible didactic component to build important skills like
project development and management, grant writing, teaching, science communication, outreach, and career
planning. In the laboratory, the mentors have expertise in six major areas: (A) Allergy, Autoimmunity, &
Transplantation; (B) Vaccines; (C) Immuno-oncology; (D) Cellular & Molecular Immunology; (E) Computational
& Systems Immunology; and (F) Microbiome. These mutually-overlapping areas of expertise have created a
portfolio of collaborative projects. These include improving vaccination outcomes through in silico modeling of
the effects of adjuvants on the immune system; systems approaches to delineate the molecular mechanisms of
communication between commensal microbes with the immune system and the digestive system that lead to
homeostasis versus disease; organotypic devices to model neutrophil swarming and activation during early
inflammatory activation; protein engineering and computational approaches to deliver cytokine receptor
`superagonists' as adjuvants in vaccines or cancer immunotherapies. Ultimately, ongoing projects across the
36 participating PME and BSD laboratories seek to use unconventional approaches to deliver new insights to
gaps in knowledge in immunology, therapies that correct immunologic dysfunction or loss-of-function, and also
diagnostics to identify potential routes of intervention. Led by Profs. Melody A. Swartz and Maria-Luisa Alegre,
with Dr. Shann S. Yu (Scientific Director of the Chicago Immunoengineering Innovation Center) as the program
administrator, the ImEPosT program will build on an outstanding infrastructure for postdoctoral training at
UChicago together with a history of success of its faculty in mentoring prior trainees into successful careers in
academia, government, and industry to create a new program that addresses emerging engineering needs in
the rapidly evolving fields of immunopathology and immunotherapy.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10270986
- **Project number:** 1T32AI153020-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Maria-Luisa Alegre
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $218,344
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-08-19 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10270986

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10270986, Immunoengineering Postdoctoral Training Program - Resubmission - 1 (1T32AI153020-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10270986. Licensed CC0.

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