# Integrated spatial omics to elucidate conserved inflammatory mechanisms of vesicant-induced skin injury

> **NIH NIH R34** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON · 2024 · $317,240

## Abstract

SUMMARY
Despite significant research and investment, no FDA approved broad spectrum countermeasures are available
to rapidly mitigate vesicant-induced injury following intentional or accidental chemical exposure. Inflammatory
pathways are a promising shared target for therapeutic intervention as: (1) inflammatory mechanisms may be
conserved across multiple vesicants as inflammatory damage is present in all types of burns; (2) burn injury is
not static, inflammatory damage continues to occur up to 72 hours after exposure and there is potential to
arrest inflammatory damage and necrosis with early anti-inflammatory intervention; and (3) there is an existing
portfolio of anti-inflammatory therapies and an active drug development pipeline that can be applied and
optimized.
Current approaches to investigate inflammatory mechanisms in skin lack integration of mechanistic and spatial
information. Systemic fluid readouts may not accurately reflect local burn response and all spatial information
is lost when skin biopsies are homogenized for traditional omics analyses. Histological analysis of biopsies can
provide spatial information regarding tissue damage but lacks mechanistic insight. Therefore, novel spatial
omics approaches that provide in situ understanding of the pathological response will be important tools in the
discovery and development of medical countermeasures to vesicant-induced damage.
The long-term objective of this research is to implement and establish a state-of-the-art spatial multi-omics
platform to investigate conserved mechanisms of inflammatory damage induced by cutaneous exposure of
sulfur mustard and lewisite vesicants in a clinically relevant porcine skin model. Utilizing innovative methods in
spatial mass spectrometry, MALDI mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI), immunohistochemistry, and
spatial transcriptomics we will map the distribution of transcriptional pathways and biomediators associated
with localized vesicant-induced skin damage.
The specific aims of this study are to 1) Identify the inflammatory phenotypes induced in response to dermal
exposure to sulfur mustard and lewisite; and 2) Use high resolution spatial transcriptomics integrated with
MALDI-MSI and immunohistochemistry to identify pathologic programs conserved across sulfur mustard and
lewisite burn lesions.
Our proposed spatial mapping approach will allow us to decipher the local inflammatory pathological effects of
vesicants not evident in systemic studies and thus elucidate conserved pathologic inflammatory pathways that
drive tissue damage and can be targeted for the development of medical countermeasures.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10953395
- **Project number:** 1R34AR084669-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Celeste Campbell Finnerty
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $317,240
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-17 → 2027-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10953395

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10953395, Integrated spatial omics to elucidate conserved inflammatory mechanisms of vesicant-induced skin injury (1R34AR084669-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10953395. Licensed CC0.

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