![Bruce Klein, MD](https://www.pediatrics.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Klein_Bru.jpg)
PI Bruce Klein, MD, professor and chief, and co-PI Marcel Wuethrich, PhD, distinguished scientist, both from the Division of Infectious Diseases, received a new R01 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The five-year project, “Mechanisms of Vaccine Immunity against Coccidioidomycosis,” was awarded in the amount of $2,865,253 and began in February 2023. Also called “valley fever,” coccidioidomycosis is caused by a fungus that grows in the soil in areas of California and the southwestern United States.
![Marcel Wuethrich](https://www.pediatrics.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Wuethrich_Marcel-189x200.jpg)
Humans and animals who breathe in dust containing the fungus are susceptible to lung infection. The study aims to define mechanisms of mucosal cellular immunity against coccidioidomycosis after delivery of a live attenuated vaccine intranasal. This project will be completed in collaboration with co-investigators Jatin Vyas, MD, PhD, and Jayaraji Rajagopal, MD, professors of medicine from the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.