# THE IMMUNE SELF-ASSOCIATED STORAGE ORGANELLE (SASO)

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2023 · $606,836

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
This study investigates how the body maintains a memory of ‘Self’. When facing foreign organisms and cancer,
this self-knowledge is thought to be critical, serving to educate the immune system to limit autoimmunity and
conversely license reactivity to things that are ‘Foreign’. The core of the study focuses on a newly-discovered
organelle, found within macrophages and some dendritic cells which we call the Self-Associated Storage
Organelle or SASO for short. We believe that the SASO is critical to ‘hold’ our self-identity and subsequently
educate the rest of our immune system and it appears to come from a stealthy and subtle form of ‘cell
nibbling’.Our proposal is unique in applying cutting technologies—lattice-light sheet imaging, vesicle flow, Mass-
spectrometry and Electron Microscopy—together with conventional cellular immunoassay methods and genetic
screens, to understand how this newly described component of the immune system works as well as how we
can harness it to improve health. The resultant discoveries will be formative for designing new ways to boost
anti-tumor immunity, to minimize autoimmunity and to broadly regulate which components of our bodies are seen
as ‘Self’.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10639168
- **Project number:** 1R01AI175277-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** MATTHEW F KRUMMEL
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $606,836
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-01-20 → 2027-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10639168

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10639168, THE IMMUNE SELF-ASSOCIATED STORAGE ORGANELLE (SASO) (1R01AI175277-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10639168. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*