Protecting children with transplants from respiratory viruses
Official title: Multi-center Evaluation of the Threat of Established and Emerging Respiratory Viral Infections in Pediatric Transplant Recipients
Funded at Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst · NIH-11176081 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project follows children having organ or stem-cell transplants to track viruses and immune responses so doctors can better predict and prevent serious lung infections.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Little Rock, United States) |
| Project start | September 17, 2021 |
| Project end | August 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $1,502,393 |
| NIH project number | 4R01AI159684-06 |
| Project ID | NIH-11176081 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Children aged 0–11 who are planning to have or recently had a hematopoietic cell (bone marrow/stem cell) transplant or a solid organ transplant and whose caregivers agree to provide blood and nasal samples.
✕Less likely to help
This project is not designed for adults, older teens, or children who are not transplant recipients, so they are unlikely to benefit directly.
What this research studies
You would be part of a group of 2,000 children treated across a nationwide network of pediatric transplant centers. Doctors will collect blood and nasal samples before transplant and during follow-up, measure viral amounts, read virus genetic sequences, and study immune responses like antibodies and T cells. A smaller nested comparison will look closely at children who develop severe lung disease versus those who do not to find patterns that predict risk. The information will be used to build tools to help families and clinicians make safer transplant and treatment decisions.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help identify children at high risk for severe lung infections so care can be personalized and complications reduced.
How similar studies have gone: Smaller prior studies suggest viral load and immune markers relate to severity, but this large multi-center effort combining sequencing and immune testing is a novel and broader approach.
Where this research is happening
-
Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst
Little Rock, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Steinbach, William J — Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst
- Study coordinator: Steinbach, William J
Related research
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.