# Engineering the Skin Immune System to Induce Systemic Immune Responses

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2024 · $642,652

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT:
The skin functions as a potent immune organ, rendering the readily accessible cutaneous
microenvironment an attractive target that can be locally engineered to induce and regulate
systemic immune responses. Increasing age is associated with changes in immune function
(immunosenescence) that result in increased susceptibility to diseases and poor vaccine
responses in older adults. This proposal is designed to bring together very recent and significant
advances in dermatology and skin biology to address critical problems in human health. Here, we
specifically focus on the skin microenvironment and strategies for cutaneous immunomodulation.
The overall approach is to utilize a clinically applicable dissolvable microneedle array delivery
platform we have developed to locally engineer the highly adaptive and immunoresponsive skin
microenvironment. Specifically, we propose to modulate local immune regulatory circuits in the
skin to enable the induction and regulation of systemic immune responses. The studies we
propose will investigate the effect of locally delivered immune modulators on the mechanisms
underlying cutaneous immune regulation in young and aged skin. Importantly, our studies include
translational studies using living human skin to enable the rapid advancement of novel cutaneous
immunomodulation strategies into clinical trials. The proposed studies will result in a better
understanding of skin immunobiology specifically relevant to the development of safe and
predictable skin immunoengineering strategies to regulate systemic immune responses across
the lifespan.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10799560
- **Project number:** 5R01AR079233-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Louis D Falo
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $642,652
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-03-04 → 2026-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10799560

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10799560, Engineering the Skin Immune System to Induce Systemic Immune Responses (5R01AR079233-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10799560. Licensed CC0.

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