# BSL3 Drug Screening Core

> **NIH NIH U19** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SAN ANTONIO · 2022 · $98,336

## Abstract

Summary (Core 1)
High-throughput screening (HTS) has become the cornerstone of modern drug discovery both in Industry and
Academia, allowing for the implementation of large-scale screening campaigns where thousands of
compounds can be tested in search for novel drugs against a given disease. However, the overwhelming
majority of existing HTS facilities and specialized equipment are set up in laboratories under low biosafety level
(BSL) conditions. This makes it impossible to implement this approach for highly pathogenic microorganisms,
such as Coccidioides spp., since work with these pathogens needs to be conducted inside high level
biocontainment facilities. Thus, the overarching goal of this Drug Screening Core is to establish unique
capabilities within BSL-3 conditions, which will allow for the implementation of fast, efficient and economical
HTS techniques for large-scale screening of chemical libraries for the identification of novel anti-coccidioidal
agents. More specifically, we propose to: i) develop low- and high-density microtiter plate-based models for
Coccidioides spp. susceptibility testing amenable to HTS inside our BSL-3 facility, and ii) to fully develop a
novel fungal cytological profiling (FCP) system based on imaging flow cytometry (IFC), and adapt it for drug
screening and to determine the mode of action of novel drugs. Within the CCRC, this Core will support the
screening and fungal cytological profiling activities in Project 1, provide services for down-selection of top
candidates for in vivo evaluation in Project 2, and support Project 3 activities examining immunotherapeutic
efficacy of antifungal drugs and vaccine candidates. Furthermore, once fully established, the technical
capabilities of this Core will be provided to the Coccidioides scientific community at large, as well as to others
in the field of Medical Mycology, and potentially other investigators working with BSL-3 organisms.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10363478
- **Project number:** 1U19AI166761-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SAN ANTONIO
- **Principal Investigator:** Jose L. Lopez-Ribot
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $98,336
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-01-01 → 2026-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10363478

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10363478, BSL3 Drug Screening Core (1U19AI166761-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10363478. Licensed CC0.

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