The $12 million NIH grant will fund research on how lung neutrophils contribute to injury, inflammation, and repair in severe respiratory conditions.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- NIH Grant: Northwestern Medicine, along with several collaborating institutions, has received a $12 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the role of neutrophils in lung health, particularly in the context of severe pneumonia, lung transplantation, and asthma.
- Research Focus: The funded research aims to uncover the mechanisms by which neutrophils drive tissue injury, inflammation, and repair in lung diseases, addressing a gap in understanding about these critical immune cells.
- Collaborative Effort: The grant, part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ U19 Cooperative Centers in Human Immunology, involves scientists from Northwestern University, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, National Jewish Health in Denver, the University of Colorado Children’s Hospital, and the University of Calgary.
A new $12 million National Institutes of Health grant led by Northwestern Medicine scientists in collaboration with other institutions will fund studies to identify mechanisms that determine how lung neutrophils drive tissue injury, inflammation and repair in patients with severe pneumonia, lung transplantation and asthma. Neutrophils are cells involved in lung inflammation and injury, but also repair.
“Neutrophils have been understudied and are not well understood,” said co-grant leader Benjamin Singer, MD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in a release. “We want to understand the biology of this cell type within the context of patients’ lung diseases and their immune systems.”
The grant — “The Neu-Lung Consortium: Neutrophilic Mechanisms of Inflammation, Injury, and Repair in Lung and Airways Diseases” — is part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ U19 Cooperative Centers in Human Immunology. Northwestern is one of five sites chosen for this award.
In addition to Singer, the grant is led by Stephanie Eisenbarth, MD, PhD, chief of allergy and immunology and director of the Center for Human Immunobiology at Feinberg, and Alexander Misharin, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care.
Other investigators are from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, National Jewish Health in Denver, the University of Colorado Children’s Hospital in Denver, and the University of Calgary in Canada.
Photo 284594120 © Rafael Fores | Dreamstime.com
