Jewell Awarded $3.5M NIH Grant to Develop a Better Treatment for Autoimmune Diseases

Christopher Jewell, professor of translational engineering in the Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices at the University of Maryland, College Park, was awarded a $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to further develop a new, multi-pronged treatment that could combat autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Type 1 diabetes.

The grant, titled “Guiding innate signaling in skin with microneedle arrays to promote durable antigen-specific tolerance during autoimmunity,” began this year and extends to 2031.

In autoimmune diseases, the human body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissue. Jewell is working on a multi-faceted approach that combines degradable patches of microneedles with therapeutics to teach the body to stop attacking itself, while also calming the immune system overall. This occurs without suppressing the normal activities of the immune system, so patients can still fight infections.

“Patients with autoimmune diseases need therapies that are potent and long lasting, without the non-specific side effects of existing treatments,” said Jewell. “We have shown that degradable microneedles efficiently target the unique immune niche in the skin, promoting selective tolerance during pre-clinical models of autoimmune disease. Through this project, we will determine how this technology alters early immune signaling in skin, and ultimately promotes regulatory signaling that could enable next-generation immunotherapies for autoimmune disease by exploiting the skin for tolerance that is potent, selective, and long-lasting.”

The grant combines two technologies the Jewell Lab has helped develop: microneedles for immunotherapy and self-assembly of immune signals.

The first involves microneedle arrays, which are small patches containing hundreds of short projections that deliver signals directly to dermal layers without causing pain. Skin is packed with specialized immune cells, and microneedle arrays are short enough to reach those cells without hitting pain receptors.Since microneedles target this immune-cell-rich layer directly – and because the Jewell Lab is targeting early immune receptors on these cells – this approach efficiently targets and regulates immune signaling.

Beyond this modulatory capability, microneedle patches have practical advantages. They can be self-administered, don't require refrigeration during transport, and eliminate the need for medical sharps such as needles or syringes, making them potentially valuable for expanding treatment access globally.

The second technology the Jewell Lab developed is nanostructured complexes that are assembled entirely from immune signals.These materials contain a combination of the body's own proteins (self-antigens) and molecules that redirect overactive immune signals against these proteins. The self-antigens signal to the immune system which cells are the body’s own and should not be attacked, while promoting regulatory T cells (TREGs), which can selectively combat existing self-reactive cells.

What’s more, studies have shown that regulatory T cells can exhibit durability and memory-like functions, meaning they remember what to do; this creates potential for long-lasting remission.

The lab’s pre-clinical studies have shown these patches stop or reverse paralysis in multiple sclerosis models without suppressing the immune system.

“This is part of our lab’s goal of pioneering new research concepts in immunology that inform technologies and ultimately translation,” Jewell explained. “For example, our lymph node scaffold project, which is ongoing, led to the formation of the company Nodal Therapeutics. This productivity is enabled by great teams in my lab, as well as collaborators such as Jonathan Bromberg [vice chair for research and professor, Department of Surgery and Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine], along with strong entrepreneurial and investor networks.”

Another venture, Patch Bio, was spun out to commercialize Jewell’s microneedle array patches for a range of immune applications.

“With NIH support,” said Jewell, “our goal is to contribute to next-generation immunotherapies that are effective, long-lasting, and safe for autoimmune disease and cancer.”

Published April 1, 2026