# Midcareer Award in Translational Immunology of Aging

> **NIH NIH K24** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $187,596

## Abstract

This renewal application for a K24 Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research is intended to
promote mentoring activities and career development focused on studies of the effects of aging on the human
immune system. Notably, no other currently funded K24 at the NIA is devoted to translational immunology. The
PI, Dr. Shaw, is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine; he is trained in Internal
Medicine and Infectious Disease, and in addition has a Ph.D. in Genetics and is a trained immunologist. Dr.
Shaw is recognized as an authority on the aging of the human immune system; his lab has a special interest in
aging of the innate immune system, and has carried out the largest and most comprehensive studies to date of
the consequences of aging on human Toll-like Receptor (TLR) function. In addition, his group has advanced
understanding of the effects of age on cellular and gene expression signatures of influenza vaccine response.
Dr. Shaw is the Project Leader of an R01 within a competitively renewed U19 Center Grant based at Yale that
is part of the NIH Human Immunology Project Consortium. This project will elucidate immunologic, gene
expression, and metabolomic signatures of high-dose influenza vaccine response in young, frail and non-frail
older adults. Dr. Shaw is also a PI of a new R01 from the NIA focusing on influenza vaccine response in the
context of aging and HIV infection. These two initiatives form the platform for the mentoring and career
development plan directed to developing new investigators studying the immunology of aging. In addition, a
pilot study based on the HIV/aging R01 is proposed to elucidate metabolomics and metabolic profiling
signatures of vaccine response. This research platform will be supported by career development activities for
the PI that include tutorials in computational biology and gerontologic biostatistics. Dr. Shaw is a PI of the T32-
supported research training program for the Section of Infectious Diseases at Yale, and is the Leader of the
Pilot and Exploratory Studies Core and Co-Director of the Research Education Core of the Yale Pepper
Center, mentoring activities that are concurrent elements within the K24 program. As a result, Dr. Shaw has
an unparalleled view of laboratory based aging research at Yale to enhance mentee research training and
career development of junior investigators. During the first funding period of this award, Dr. Shaw’s mentees
have been highly successful, including NIA GEMSSTAR and Beeson Scholar awardees, and the K24 program
was instrumental in the expansion of NIH grant support to Dr. Shaw. The proposed program will further
enhance the PI’s ongoing role as a mentor to the next generation of investigators who will advance our
understanding of human immunology in the context of aging.
!

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9965699
- **Project number:** 5K24AG042489-08
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Albert C Shaw
- **Activity code:** K24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $187,596
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-08-01 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9965699

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9965699, Midcareer Award in Translational Immunology of Aging (5K24AG042489-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9965699. Licensed CC0.

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