University of Missouri researchers have received a 2.77-million-dollar grant to study how the immune system responds to respiratory viruses.
The funding from the National Institutes of Health will support research over the next four years.
Emma Teixeiro, a professor at the MU School of Medicine, and her lab will examine immune-cell activity in the lungs.
Researchers hope the work could help improve vaccines and treatments for respiratory illnesses.
The study focuses on a group of proteins that influence inflammation and other immune-system functions.