The Seattle-based Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, a division of the Allen Institute, has announced a new cohort of Allen Distinguished Investigators.

The Distinguished Investigators program awards grants of $1.5 million over three years in support of early-stage research in biology and medicine that would not otherwise be supported by traditional research funding sources. This year, four projects received funding in the field of immunometabolism, which is focused on answering questions about metabolism and the immune system.

Investigators receiving grants include Will Bailis (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia), Chris Bennett (University of Pennsylvania), and Ruaidhrí Jackson (Harvard Medical School), whose research is focused on the links between immunity and metabolism at the scale of individual cells, organs, and the entire body; Aida Habtezion (Stanford University School of Medicine), Nandita Garud (University of California, Los Angeles), and Carolina Tropini (University of British Columbia), for a project exploring how the immune responses, metabolism, gut microbiomes, and environments of IBD patients contribute to variability in symptoms and responses to treatment; Russell Jones (Van Andel Institute) and Yasmine Belkaid (National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Disease), who are researching the preferred fuel sources of T cells, uncovering which types of T-cell metabolism are needed for optimal infection-fighting, and determining which types might lead to immune dysfunction; and Jennifer Prescher and Michelle Digman (University of California, Irvine), in support of a new technique that shines "biological flashlights" on different immune- and metabolism-related molecules at the same time.

"In so many diseases, a tipping point is reached where entire systems in our bodies are thrown off balance. Studying the complex and fascinating interactions between the immune system and energy metabolism will give us a better understanding of what it means to be healthy and how it might be possible to return those systems to balance after damage or disease," said Frontiers Group director Kathy Richmond. "The innovative and pioneering visions of these four teams of Allen Distinguished Investigators span a variety of approaches to tackle this exciting area of biomedical research."