On Monday, May 20th over 160 attendees joined together in San Diego, California during the annual ATS International Conference to recognize the 2024 Alpha-1 Grants Award Recipients and celebrate the research that has recently been funded by the Foundation.
A1F continues to invest boldly in those working in the research world, funding the most promising science to accelerate treatments for the underlying cause of Alpha-1 and to hopefully find a cure for every person diagnosed with this condition.
“Tonight, we celebrate an incredible milestone. Since its inception, the Alpha-1 Foundation’s investment in research around the globe has reached the $100 million mark. As the largest funding source of Alpha-1 research, we are proud to support 130 institutions around the world over three decades and we are not done yet. Thanks to the brilliance of many of you in this room tonight, the Foundation will continue moving the needle towards a cure,” exclaimed Scott Santarella, President, and CEO of the Alpha-1 Foundation.
Members of the Grant Advisory Committee (GAC) were recognized for their outstanding commitment and dedication to the Foundation and their scientific expertise and guidance. Special recognition was given to two members that were cycling off of the committee, Dr. Craig Hersh and Dr. Christine H. Wendt. Dr. Hersh from Brigham & Women’s Hospital served for 12 years, and Dr. Wendt from University of Minnesota served for 16 years. We are grateful for their deep expertise and gift of their time, and we honor them for it.
“We have an incredible community and seeing all the talented and dedicated people gathered in one place reminds me of that and reinforces my optimism that we can accomplish great things for the Alpha-1 community together. A second reason I am feeling optimistic tonight is because for the first time since this disease was discovered there are now numerous potential therapies in the pipeline,” stated Dr. Andrew Wilson, Alpha-1 Foundation Scientific Director.
Dr. Wilson announced the 2024 Grants Award Recipients and recognized those in attendance. This year’s awards consisted of eleven research grants, four pilot and feasibility grants and four postdoctoral research fellowship grants. We were challenged to double the number of grant recipients this cycle from last year, which we achieved with a total of 19 grant recipients receiving over $3 million for their meritorious projects.
In-Cycle Research Grant Recipients: (Awarded in-cycle for basic and translational research and provide funds to encourage the development of new information that contributes to the understanding of Alpha-1.)
- Valerie Gouon-Evans, PhD, Boston Medical Center
- Promoting Progenitor-Driven Liver Regeneration as an AATD-Associated Liver Disease Therapy
- Devipriya Harinath, PhD, Columbia University
- Diversity of SERPINA1 Mutations as Reflected in an Indian Population
- Kristen Hudock, PhD, University of Cincinnati
- A Novel Strategy to Deliver Intrapulmonary AAT & Limit Lung Destruction in Models of AATD
- Jorge Lascano, MD, University of Florida
- Nicotine as a Cause of Airway Inflammation and Lung Emphysema in a Novel AATD Mouse Model
- Camila Lopes-Ramos, PhD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Multi-omic Sex Differences in Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Associated COPD
- Karen McDonald, PhD, University of California Davis
- Production and Characterization of a Biobetter Recombinant AAT-Fc Therapeutic Protein
- Francesca Polverino, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
- B Cell Adaptive Immune Profile in A1AT Deficiency-Associated Emphysema
- Sheikh Tamir Rashid, MD, PhD, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
- Deciphering the Molecular Landscape in Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Liver Disease
- Leonard Riley, MD, University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute
- Impact of a Multicenter Best Practice Alert to Improve AATD Testing and Detection
- Florian Rosenberger, PhD, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
- Alpha-1 Hepatocyte Dynamics: A Single-Cell and Spatial Proteomics Study
- Konstantinos Thalassinos, PhD, University College London
- Cellular Effects of A1AT Aggregation with Single-Cell and Crosslinking Proteomics
Pilot and Feasibility Grant Recipients: (The objective of the Pilot and Feasibility grants are to provide funds to encourage the development and testing of new hypothesis and/or new methods in research areas relevant to Alpha-1.)
- Emily Moser, PhD, University of Florida
- Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Promotes Vaccine Antibody Responses
- Suzanne Roche, MB, BCh, BAO, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
- Genetic Discrimination – Tackling a Growing Issue in Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency
- Huiliang Wang, PhD, University of Texas at Austin
- Genetic Engineered Exosomes for Efficient DNA Delivery for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency
- Rhiannon Werder, PhD, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
- Investigating the Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Respiratory Infections in AATD
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Grants:
- Ivera Khodzhaeva, PhD, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research- University of Cambridge
- FGF21 and Cellular Homeostasis in Alpha1-Antitrypsin Deficiency
- Hirofumi Kiyokawa, MD, PhD, Boston University
- Regeneration of Lung Epithelial Stem Cell Compartments in a Novel Z-AAT Mouse Model
- Mark Murphy, PhD, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
- A Detailed Study of Lung Immune Cell Outcomes in AATD
- Valentina Schiano, PhD, Fondazione Telethon ETS
- Targeting Inflammation as Therapeutic Approach for AATD
The Alpha-1 Foundation congratulates all grants award recipients. The mission cannot be achieved without the dedication of the scientific community, and we are so grateful for the leadership of Dr. Wilson and his commitment to engage more new, young investigators in the Alpha-1 research community to ensure that we continue to benefit from new ideas and high-quality research for years to come.
Thank you to the event sponsors: AlphaNet, CSL Behring, Grifols and Takeda.
