The Lundquist Institute wins multi-year NIH grant exceeding $11 million to transform diagnosis and treatment of deadly mucormycosis
Grant and Award Announcement
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 14-Aug-2025 22:11 ET (15-Aug-2025 02:11 GMT/UTC)
The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA (TLI) announced today that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a new grant (P01AI186818) to Dr. Ashraf S. Ibrahim, PhD, a TLI Investigator, a Professor of Medicine at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and a leading authority on mucormycosis pathogenesis. The grant provides $2.2 million in first-year funding and $11,269,858 million in total projected support over the next five years to launch MUCOR-ADVANCE, an ambitious effort to revolutionize risk stratification, early diagnosis, and treatment of mucormycosis, one of the world’s most lethal fungal infections.
Researchers have developed a compact, affordable intraoral device that integrates diagnostic imaging and photodynamic therapy to detect and treat early-stage oral cancer. Designed for use in low-resource settings, the handheld tool uses fluorescence imaging to identify lesions and delivers targeted light therapy to destroy cancerous tissue. Preclinical studies in tissue models and mice demonstrated effective tumor reduction and capability for treatment monitoring. This innovation could significantly improve access to timely oral cancer care in regions with limited medical infrastructure.
A new international research project featuring faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York reveals that people in the Middle Ages weren’t cooped up in castles, wallowing in superstition. They were developing health practices based on the best knowledge they had at the time – some of which mirror modern wellness trends.
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Published in the July 7 online issue of European Respiratory Journal [https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.02250-2024], the work could pave the way for a new class of treatments to help patients with this currently incurable condition. Published in the July 7 online issue of European Respiratory Journal [https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.02250-2024], the work could pave the way for a new class of treatments to help patients with this currently incurable condition.