NIH grant: Center for Bat One Health Investigations, Research, and Outbreak Response (CHIRO) (3U01AI190392-01S3)

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NIH grant 3U01AI190392-01S3: Center for Bat One Health Investigations, Research, and Outbreak Response (CHIRO)
Institute: {'code': 'AI', 'abbreviation': 'NIAID', 'name': 'National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases', 'admin_org_id': '12500003', 'admin_funding_url': ''}. PI: Tracey  Goldstein. Award: $33350.
Start: 2026-09-24T00:00:00.
Center for Bat One Health Investigations, Research, and Outbreak response (CHIRO)
Project Summary/Abstract
The Center for Bat One Health Investigations, Research, and Outbreak Response (CHIRO) aims to investigate the impact of environmental and anthropogenic stressors on bat behavior, physiology, and virus evolution, and how these factors potentially increase the risk of zoonotic virus spillover and outbreaks in people. To achieve this goal, we will employ a multifaceted One Health approach that spans field, laboratory, and clinical studies across different ecological systems and bats species that are hosts of important pathogens in people, each with unique stressor profiles to study bat-associated viral shedding and evolution. In Aim 1, we will investigate how extreme heat events influence viral shedding and evolution in bats. Field studies in Nigeria and Ghana will be paired with laboratory studies to observe the effects of heat stress in the context of seasonal variations and reproductive cycles, providing insights into physiological, behavioral, and viral responses. In Aim 2, we will address anthropogenic stressors on these key filovirus reservoir bat species in West Africa (Ghana and Nigeria) and how deforestation, urbanization and roost disturbance alter bat behavior leading to increased interactions with people and elevating the risk of zoonotic spillover. In Ghana, cave-roosting bats are experiencing increasing disturbance and human contact from logging and hunting in the surrounding forest. In Nigeria, tree cavity-roosting Angolan mops bats (Mops condylurus; harbors Bombali ebolavirus) are roosting under hot tin roofs in direct proximity to humans, an adaptation from habitat encroachment. Many of these houses are built on the forest edge, providing the opportunity to compare bats in different settings. Recent emergence of Marburg virus in West Africa warrants further study to better understand movements of Egyptian rousette bats and how disturbance and human contact lead to viral spillover. In both aims we will pair field surveys of bats with sentinel-and cohort-based clinical surveillance in people to assess exposure to bat-borne viruses. Complementing our field studies, we will investigate stress-induced viral infection dynamics in controlled laboratory bat model experiments with field-relevant bat species and our Jamaican fruit bat model. These experiments will allow us to examine stress conditions by isolating specific variables to gain deeper insights into how these stressors affect immune function, behavior, viral shedding, and evolution. Aim 3 focuses on global network integration and resource development for outbreak preparedness and response. Through this multifaceted approach combining One Health field, laboratory, and clinical investigations in different ecological contexts, we will provide robust and comprehensive insights into how stress impacts bats and the risk of zoonotic virus spillover to inform public health strategies and conservation efforts.

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