# Development of Safe and Rapid Reporter Viruses for Studying Pathogenic and Pandemic Viruses

> **NIH NIH R43** · INTEGRAL MOLECULAR · 2024 · $288,515

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Neutralizing titer is a demonstrated correlate of protection across most viral pathogens. The traditional assay to
assess neutralization titer is the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT), which is generally regarded as
slow, subjective, and variable. To conduct large scale clinical vaccine trials, thousands of serum samples from
vaccinated individuals are typically assessed in neutralization assays, a scale that is difficult to achieve using
live virus in high containment facilities. Optical reporters such as GFP and luciferase encoded in ‘reporter
viruses’ are an alternative to PRNT and are more streamlined, safe, and scalable than PRNT assays but still
require a week of experimentation. Here we propose to develop a Rapid Reporter Virus (RRV) to assess virus
infection and neutralization rapidly and safely. The development of this novel assay is in direct response to our
customers’ requests for a better neutralization readout.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11004045
- **Project number:** 1R43AI186556-01
- **Recipient organization:** INTEGRAL MOLECULAR
- **Principal Investigator:** Benjamin J Doranz
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $288,515
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-01 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11004045

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11004045, Development of Safe and Rapid Reporter Viruses for Studying Pathogenic and Pandemic Viruses (1R43AI186556-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11004045. Licensed CC0.

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