# Structural Biology Core

> **NIH NIH U19** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $2,480,350

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY - CORE C
Bunyaviruses and Picornaviruses are RNA viruses that cause outbreaks of human disease. Given their diversity
and mechanisms of transmission, they represent potential pathogens of pandemic potential. The major goal of
our Bunyavirus and Picornavirus ReVAMPP (BP4) Center is to establish optimized design technologies for
vaccines and antibody therapeutics based on prototype bunyaviruses and picornaviruses that can be readily
applied to newly emerging threats. Research in our Structure Core C will use structural biology, computational
biology, and biophysics approaches to support the Projects and Cores of this consortium. The ability to probe
antigen-antibody interactions at a molecular level using these tools provides insight into the specificity and affinity
of antigen-antibody interactions and guides iterative redesign of the antigen in collaboration with the Projects
and Cores. Thus, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and X-ray crystallography structures of antibody-antigen
complexes will be determined and characterized. Core C will provide the expertise that could be used to engineer
antigen reagents to elicit and evaluate the optimal protective immune response against target immunogens.
Core C activities will be conducted in two physical sites with complementary expertise and physical assets, with
the Purdue site supporting Projects 1-2 on picornaviruses and the VUMC site supporting Projects 3-5 on
hantaviruses and arenaviruses. The two sites already have a long-standing collaborative relationship and will
share expertise, technology, and reagents. Core C will work closely with each Project Leader and other Core
research teams to ensure exchange data and analyses to guide the efficient scientific development of consortium
goals. The Core will manage data deposition of structural data on behalf of the Projects to the Protein Data Bank
(PDB), Electron Microscopy Data Bank (EMDB), the NIH Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource
(IEDB) and related public access databases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10863656
- **Project number:** 1U19AI181979-01
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Richard J. Kuhn
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $2,480,350
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-20 → 2027-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10863656

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10863656, Structural Biology Core (1U19AI181979-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10863656. Licensed CC0.

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