Ultrahigh-Throughput Screening to Improve CAR-T Therapies
Official title: Ultrahigh-Throughput Cell Interaction Screening to Advance CAR-T Therapeutic Development
Funded at Vivid Bioinnovations, Pbc · NIH-11314450 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A new platform called CAGEs will rapidly test how CAR-T cells kill cancer cells at the single-cell level to speed up creating safer and more effective CAR-T therapies.
Quick facts
| Grant type | Sbir 2 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Vivid Bioinnovations, Pbc NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Francisco, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | August 7, 2026 |
| Project end | July 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $306,872 |
| NIH project number | 1R44CA310740-01 |
| Project ID | NIH-11314450 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Not applicable for this supply-focused project; the work is preclinical and uses cell-based models to optimize CAR-T designs.
✕Less likely to help
Direct patient benefit is not immediate; improvements would come later through more effective therapies.
What this research studies
CAR-T cell therapies have shown great promise in some cancers, but real-world success, especially against solid tumors, needs better ways to measure how well they kill tumor cells. The project builds CAGEs, a high-throughput system that places CAR-T and cancer cells in gel-encased compartments to observe true tumor-killing over several days. Researchers will quantify cytotoxicity, collect cytokine data, and perform sequencing to connect CAR designs with function. This approach could let scientists quickly screen millions of CAR variants to identify designs with better efficacy and safety.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this platform could accelerate development of more effective and safer CAR-T therapies for a broader range of cancers.
How similar studies have gone: High-throughput, single-cell functional screening approaches are showing promise in accelerating cell therapy optimization.
Where this research is happening
-
Vivid Bioinnovations, Pbc
San Francisco, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Prince, Robin — Vivid Bioinnovations, Pbc
- Study coordinator: Prince, Robin
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.