The HSOM Immunology Institute and the HSOM I-4ward Strategic Theme have awarded 4 vouchers each of up to $20,000 to support experiments on the Lunaphore COMET™ multiplex immunofluorescent platform housed in the Flow Cytometry and Single Cell Core. We want to thank everyone for your response to the COMET™ Voucher RFA. We received 29 very competitive applications. In this first release of the RFA, scoring was prioritized based on technical feasibility of the proposal, enhancement of our understanding of how cells interact within a tissue, and immediate use of generated data in an upcoming grant or manuscript submission.

I-4ward Awardees

• Shinichi Kano - Immune cell dynamics in chronic neuroinflammation following cortical brain damage
• Daniel Tyrrell  and Juhi Samal  - Immune Cell Sialoglycan Signatures in Ischemic Stroke
• Martin Young - Targeting a novel circadian-regulated axis to prevent inflammation-mediated cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury
• Adrie Steyn - Biometal Profiling of Human Tuberculosis Lesions

Immunology Institute Awardees

• Nabiha Yusuf - The Role of a Novel UVB-induced tolerogenic DC subset in Immune Suppression
• Jennifer Pollock – Time of day localization of T cells with determinants of damage and dysfunction in obese kidneys
• Julie Carstens – Defining the spatial landscape of secreted immune-regulatory pathways in liver metastasis
• Lyse Norian - Stress-induced immune remodeling in the ovarian cancer tumor microenvironment

LUNAPHORE COMET™ IS AT UAB AND READY FOR YOUR EXPERIMENTS!!!!

The UAB Heersink School of Medicine Immunology Institute (II) and I-4ward (Inflammation, Infection, Immunity and Immunotherapy) strategic theme are requesting applications for a new voucher program designed to support experiments using the new Lunaphore COMET™ single cell resolution proteomic platform which is now available here at UAB. Investigators interested in using cutting-edge spatial biology tools to characterize migratory and resident inflammatory cells and tissue-specific cell populations within tissue samples isolated from patients and pre-clinical models (mouse) of acute and chronic disease are invited to apply.

The Lunaphore COMET™ fast fluidic exchange technology allows for staining of tissue sections (fixed and fresh frozen) with standard, off-the-shelf primary (non-conjugated) antibodies (Abs). The incubation time with each Ab is reduced from several hours to only a few minutes – which allows for hyper-multiplexing of 20+ different Abs* in just one day. The COMET™ microfluidic chip allows for controlled flow rate, flow pressure and chamber temperature, resulting in precise and consistent staining of tissue samples and high reproducibility across different tissue samples and experiments.

Available to support your COMET™-based research questions:

• Tissue processing, tissue sectioning and tissue microarray (core) preparation
• Validated Ab bank specific for mouse (n=60) or human (n=60) inflammatory cell and tissue specific proteins
• Access to COMET™ experts who will optimize new Abs needed for your specific research questions
• Access to analytic cloud-based workstations for image analysis using the AI-driven Visiopharm software platform
• Access to UAB-generated Visiopharm training modules, Visiopharm technical support office hours, and one-on-one time with Visiopharm experts
• Access to computational experts who can support your advanced spatial biology questions

Please submit proposals as a single PDF document (see COMET™ Voucher RFA) containing a description of the proposed experiment(s), including timeline and milestones of future manuscript and/or grant submissions. Include NIH biosketches for all project Investigators and an itemized budget of up to $20,000. See website for description and pricing of core services and contact information to answer questions about your particular experimental objectives. The voucher funds must be used within the UAB Flow Cytometry and Single Cell Core to purchase reagents, to cover COMET service core fees, to obtain access to Visiopharm software, and to obtain advanced bioinformatic support. Voucher funds may also be used for tissue preparation within the Pathology Core Research Lab and the Animal Resource Program Comparative Pathology Lab.

Applications for the 2025 voucher program are due by 5 PM on Friday November 15^th. Awards will be made by end of December 2024 and funding will be available in January 2025.
We will provide open zoom office hours to discuss questions regarding this RFA with Core COMET experts on November 1^st from Noon - 2 PM. Interested applicants can email Dr. Carol Ballinger at caball@uab.edu. We intend to fund up to 8 research projects. Eligible applicants must hold a full-time UAB faculty appointment at any rank. Priority will be given to applications that have preliminary histologic data and demonstrate readiness to move to next level, 40-color analysis. Applications should share strong thematic overlap with either of the research missions of II (must be an II member) or I-4ward (focused on infectious or inflammatory diseases)†. Please specify which funding mechanism (II or I-4ward) on your application.

*Some Abs cannot be used on fixed tissues and fresh frozen tissue is more difficult to hyperplex.

†Funding vouchers to support work on the Lunaphore COMET™ are also available to members of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center through the OCCC voucher program, O’Neal Invests. Please consider this as a potential funding source if you are not a member of the Immunology Institute, or your research does not align with the research missions of the Immunology Institute or the I-4ward strategic theme.

Download RFA Application Template
Sample Budget
COMET™ Voucher RFA Instructions