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Principal Investigator: ANKITA GARG
Organization: UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
Fiscal Year: 2021
Award: $547,000
Funding agency: NIH Office of the Director
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Investigators at UGA have established national and international recognition for their research on high-
containment pathogens of global importance. UGA investigators are working towards understanding
pathogenesis and developing newer vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to confer sustained immunity to re-
challenge with homologous or heterologous pathogen strains. However, to advance these programs,
multiparametric flow cytometer with high speed sorting is critical to formulate assays which assess vaccine
efficacy, disease transmission, host response, and pre-clinical testing of vaccine/therapeutics/diagnostic
candidate(s). This capability is currently lacking at the University of Georgia. The major users for the proposed
flow cytometer sorter comprise NIH-funded researchers from three Departments at UGA; Infectious Diseases,
Population Health and Pathology. Additional users are investigators of United States Department of
Agriculture. Currently, multiple flow cytometers and sorters are available at UGA, and three are equipped with
Biosafety Cabinets for sorting infectious cells. However, none of the existing cytometers or sorters can be used
for un-fixed/live samples that are processed in high-containment / Biosafety Level-3 (BSL3) or BSL3-Ag
laboratories. Acquisition of the proposed flow cytometer-sorter will provide new capabilities that will allow
investigators to address complex immunological research problems in the area of infectious diseases. Specific
areas of investigation that will directly benefit by obtaining the proposed instrument are: 1) immune response
and vaccine development for Brucella melitensis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Bordetella spp, influenza virus,
SARS-CoV-2 and several others, 2) immune response to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) –
Mycobacterium tuberculosis co-infection, 3) understanding of the transmission of respiratory pathogens, 4)
host range and pathogenesis of respiratory viral and bacterial co-infection, 5) pathogenesis and immune
response to Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei and hemorrhagic fever viruses Ebola, Lassa
and SARS-CoV-2. The lack of a cytometer-sorter in a high-containment facility has hindered UGA researchers
ability to perform critical experiments with highly pathogenic organisms. The instrument will therefore facilitate
the realization of research goals and maintenance of NIH support for biomedical research.
Terms: <2019 novel corona virus><2019 novel coronavirus><2019-nCoV><AIDS Virus><Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Virus><Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Virus><Address><Antigen-Antibody Complex><Area><Assay><B mallei><B melitensis><B pseudomallei><B. mallei><B. melitensis><B. pseudomallei><BSL-3 facility><BSL3 facility><Bioassay><Biologic Assays><Biological Assay><Biomedical Research><Bordetella><Brucella melitensis><Burkholderia mallei><Burkholderia pseudomallei><COVID-19 virus><COVID19 virus><Cell Body><Cells><CoV-2><CoV2><Communicable Diseases><Containment><Diagnostic><Ebola><Funding><Goals><HIV><Human Immunodeficiency Viruses><Immune Complex><Immune response><Immunity><Immunological response><Infectious Disease Pathway><Infectious Diseases><Infectious Disorder><Influenza Virus><International><Investigation><Investigators><LAV-HTLV-III><Laboratories><Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus><M tb><M tuberculosis><M. tb><M. tuberculosis><Maintenance><Mycobacterium tuberculosis><NIH><National Institutes of Health><Organism><P mallei><P pseudomallei><P. mallei><P. pseudomallei><Pathogenesis><Pathogenicity><Pathology><Preclinical Testing><Process><Pseudomonas mallei><Pseudomonas pseudomallei><Research><Research Personnel><Researchers><SARS corona virus 2><SARS-CoV-2><SARS-CoV2><SARS-associated corona virus 2><SARS-associated coronavirus 2><SARS-coronavirus-2><SARS-related corona virus 2><SARS-related coronavirus 2><SARSCoV2><Sampling><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome CoV 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Corona Virus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Coronavirus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-associated coronavirus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related coronavirus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome associated corona virus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome related corona virus 2><Sorting - Cell Movement><Speed><Therapeutic><Transmission><United States Department of Agriculture><United States National Institutes of Health><Universities><Viral><Virus-HIV><Wuhan coronavirus><biosafety level 3 facility><co-infection><coinfection><communicable disease transmission><coronavirus disease 2019 virus><develop a vaccine><development of a vaccine><disease transmission><evaluate vaccines><experiment><experimental research><experimental study><hCoV19><hemorrhagic fever virus><host response><immune system response><immunoresponse><infectious disease transmission><influenzavirus><instrument><living system><lung pathogen><mtb><nCoV2><new vaccines><next generation vaccines><novel vaccines><pathogen><population health><pre-clinical testing><programs><pulmonary pathogen><respiratory><respiratory pathogen><sorting><transmission process><vaccine development><vaccine efficacy><vaccine evaluation><vaccine formulation><vaccine screening><vaccine testing>