# The role of intermediate filaments during inflammation

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 2024 · $250,000

## Abstract

Parent Grant 5R35GM146923-02
Abstract: Intermediate filaments are highly conserved eukaryotic cytoskeletal proteins present
in nearly every cell in the body. Although initially thought to simply provide structural support to
cells, intermediate filaments are now implicated in a variety of biological processes due
to their numerous protein interactions. Due to the number of intermediate filament monomers,
more than 70 in humans, and the complexity of their regulation, more than 100 posttranslational
modification sites, gaps remain in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which
they are regulated and by which they contribute to many biological processes. To begin to fill
these gaps, we seek to define molecular mechanisms by which intermediate filaments are
regulated in cells and to define how intermediate filaments contribute to inflammation by
focusing on their role in neutrophil inflammatory processes and migration. This proposal
builds on the PIs previous experience investigating intermediate filament function during
bacterial infection by proposing to leverage new cellular models of immortalized
neutrophil populations with established screening approaches successfully use by the PI to
define molecular mechanisms by which the intermediate filament vimentin contributes to
inflammatory processes. The flexibility in funding provided by this R35 program will enable the
PI the flexibility to follow the most promising lines of investigation and to leverage the
proposed approaches to train junior scientists within the laboratory. The successful
completion of the proposed studies is highly likely to improve our general
understanding about the biological processes in cells to which intermediate filaments contribute
and to our understanding of the mechanisms by which neutrophil function is regulated
during inflammation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11034383
- **Project number:** 3R35GM146923-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
- **Principal Investigator:** Brian Russo
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $250,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11034383

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11034383, The role of intermediate filaments during inflammation (3R35GM146923-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11034383. Licensed CC0.

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