The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced research funding to identify patients at high risk for developing multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a condition thought to be a severe complication of COVID-19. The NIH will award up to $20 million to successful research proposals over four years.
MIS-C is a severe and sometimes fatal inflammation of organs and tissues, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, and eyes. The NIH funding seeks to encourage studies of genetic, immune, viral, environmental, and other factors that influence how severe a case of COVID-19 will be and the chances of it turning into MIS-C.
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) project, Predicting Viral-Associated Inflammatory Disease Severity in Children with Laboratory Diagnostics and Artificial Intelligence (PreVAIL kIds), is part of NIH's Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative to spur innovation in the development, commercialization, and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing.
Studies funded through PreVAIL kIds will evaluate genes and other biomarkers in COVID-19 pediatric cases, as well as determine how the virus interacts with its host and the immune system response. Researchers will rely on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to sort and categorize data they acquire.
![Axial images from unenhanced calcium score cardiac CT (left) and curved planar reformation images from CT angiography (right) show that higher long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with greater coronary artery calcium and more obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Top row: Images in a 68-year-old male patient with higher 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (7.9 μg/m3 for particulate matter measuring ≤2.5 μm in diameter [PM2.5] and 17.4 parts per billion [ppb] for NO2) with extensive CAD (coronary artery calcium score [CACS] >1,000 and obstructive CAD [≥70% diameter stenosis]). Bottom row: Images in a 57-year-old female patient with lower 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (6.3 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 4.6 ppb for NO2) with no CAD (CACS = 0 and no obstructive stenosis).](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/06/hanneman.r6SMLzkezo.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
