Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Contributes $200,000 in New Pulmonary Fibrosis Research, Totaling $400,000 in Grants

Four Investigators Each Awarded $100,000, Two year grants

CHICAGO, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation today announced that, in partnership with the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis (CPF), $400,000 in new pulmonary fibrosis research grants as part of the 2010 ATS Partner Award Program for Pulmonary Fibrosis Research.

The ATS/PFF/CPF Partner Awards for Pulmonary Fibrosis are jointly funded by the PFF and CPF, and awards are made through a rigorous peer review application process administered by ATS. Each award is for $50,000 over two years, beginning in January, 2011.

The PFF is proud to recognize the following recipients:

• Erica Herzog, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division at Yale University (New Haven, CT), was awarded a Partner Grant to investigate emaphorin 7a and alternative macrophage activation in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis"
• Steven Huang, MD, Lecturer in the Department of Medicine at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), was awarded a Partner Grant to investigate the regulation and pattern of the DNA methylome in pulmonary fibrosis
• Philip Simonian, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver, was awarded a Partner Grant to investigate whether IL-22 offers protection from inflammation-induced pulmonary fibrosis
• Beiyun Zhou, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Division at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA), was awarded a Partner Grant to investigate whether endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in alveolar epithelial cells (AEC), and their role in pulmonary fibrosis

"It is important to have these partnerships to increase the research funding available to investigators for this very difficult and deadly disease," said Daniel M. Rose, MD, President of the PFF." We are pleased that the peer review committee at ATS was able to select such high quality research to fund."

Jesse Roman, Chair ATS Scientific Review Committee and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Louisville, noted that: "Pulmonary fibrosis affects hundreds of thousands of Americans and many more worldwide. We need to continue to support research in this field until safe and effective treatments become available. Partnerships with the PPF and other organizations are crucial to sustain this effort and represent a wonderful example of how physicians, scientists, patients, advocacy groups, and the community in general can come together to tackle important medical problems."

The PFF's partnership with the CPF and ATS is part of the Foundation's longstanding commitment to drive new funding into pulmonary fibrosis research. To date, the PFF has directly funded, or has commitments to fund, more than $3 million to basic research programs in the United States with hopes of finding new treatments or a cure. To learn more about the PFF and its work, please visit www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org or call 888-733-6741.

About the ATS Partner Research Award Program

The ATS Partner Research Program seeks to fund research in the United States that has a high likelihood to advance the understanding of PF, while enabling new faculty-level investigators to make the transition to careers as established investigators. Partnerships between junior and senior investigators were strongly encouraged, particularly for new investigators who were within 1 to 5 years of the completion of their medical training. The PF grants were funded through a partnership between the CPF and the PFF.

About Pulmonary Fibrosis

According to the National Institutes for Health (NIH), IPF is a condition in which over a period of time the lung tissue becomes thickened, stiff, and scarred. The development of the scar tissue is called fibrosis. As the lung tissue becomes scarred and thicker, the lungs lose their ability to transfer oxygen into the bloodstream.

As a result, the brain and other organs don't get the oxygen they need. In some cases, doctors can determine the cause of the fibrosis, but in most cases, there is not a known cause. When there is no known etiology for the fibrosis (and certain pathologic criteria are met) the disease is called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis or IPF. IPF affects approximately 200,000 Americans and an estimated 40,000 Americans pass away from IPF each year.

About the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation

The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to find a cure for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) by funding research, advocating for pulmonary fibrosis issues, promoting disease awareness, and providing a compassionate environment for patients and their families. We aim to accomplish this by working with the medical community to drive new research, increase research funding, by representing the needs of our constituents in Washington DC through national advocacy, and by developing caring relationships with patients and their families throughout the course of their disease. Since the inception of the Foundation, it has funded close to $3,000,000 in basic research. For more information please visit www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org or call (888) 733-6741.

SOURCE The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation