# Inhalation & Infection Core (IIC)

> **NIH NIH P20** · LOUISIANA STATE UNIV A&M COL BATON ROUGE · 2024 · $161,934

## Abstract

INHALATION AND INFECTION CORE – PROJECT SUMMARY
The new Inhalation and Infection Core (IIC) has been created to support the research need of the COBRE
Promising Junior Investigators (PJIs) and NIH-funded investigators in their endeavors to study the combination
of pulmonary infectious plus non-infectious agents within a single model and address mechanisms of
respiratory diseases under real-life environmental exposure scenarios. The goal of the IIC is to provide
expertise, assistance, and training, for the delivery of inhaled pollutants through novel exposure systems and
to generate animal infection models. In addition, the IIC will offer physiologically relevant air-liquid interface in
vitro models that closely mimic realistic pulmonary exposure conditions of inhaled toxicants and/or pathogens
at the blood-air interface. The IIC builds upon our current bio-safety level 1 (BSL-1) inhalation research
capability to expand into a BSL-2 area allowing inhalation exposures. Combining state-of-the-art capabilities for
inhalation exposures to environmental pollutants with infectious disease models will create a multi-disciplinary
platform, responsive to both current and future needs of JPIs, enabling investigators to conduct next level
inhalation research and gain unique insight into mechanisms of toxicity of specific pathogens using real-life risk
simulation approaches. The unique advantages offered by these infrastructural capabilities, which combine
expertise for inhalation exposures and infection models, will position ourselves as a major center of expertise
in the South. The IIC will provide experimental support via two specific aims. Aim 1. Create an all-inclusive
BSL-2 research environment for inhalation studies. This will be accomplished A) by providing support and
expertise to investigate interactions between human cells, pathogens, air pollutants and respiratory diseases,
and B) by provide experimental expertise allowing for the performance of in vitro and in vivo assays using both
Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species. Aim 2. Provide training to CLBD graduate students, post-
doctoral fellows, and principal investigators on how to use the facilities and equipment provided by the IIC.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10851555
- **Project number:** 2P20GM130555-06
- **Recipient organization:** LOUISIANA STATE UNIV A&M COL BATON ROUGE
- **Principal Investigator:** Alexandra Noel
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $161,934
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2019-01-02 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10851555

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10851555, Inhalation & Infection Core (IIC) (2P20GM130555-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10851555. Licensed CC0.

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