On Monday, May 19th, 2025, the Alpha-1 Foundation (A1F) hosted its annual A1F Grants Award Reception at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The annual American Thoracic Society International Conference provides the ideal forum to honor the A1F Founder’s vision of investing in research and science, recognizing the most recent grant recipients, while also celebrating having distributed more than $100 million in grant funding over three decades.
This year, A1F celebrates its 30th anniversary, a milestone that commemorates and honors the legacy of those who have impacted the Alpha-1 community, especially the Alphas and their families whom A1F serves. For three decades, with the insight of the Alpha-1 community, A1F has designed and launched innovative patient-focused programs and services supporting Alphas along their journey, including a solid infrastructure to promote pioneering scientific research and the establishment of collaborative partnerships to advance the development of novel therapies.
A1F was proud of all the excitement around Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (Alpha-1) at this year’s international conference, with over 40 sessions and thematic poster sessions. A1F has invested over $100 million towards research at over 130 institutions around the world, being the largest private funding source for Alpha-1. It is because of the brilliance in the Alpha-1 research community that the needle towards a cure continues to move forward. A cure that will ultimately change lives.
“This annual gathering allows A1F to pause and reflect on the accomplishments that have been made in the field and to recognize those that will continue to advance research and bring us closer to a cure. We need 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. We have a mission that cannot be achieved without the dedication of the scientific community. I encourage each of you to reach out to your colleagues to help us expand our efforts and generate more research in Alpha-1,” exclaimed Scott Santarella, A1F President & CEO.
This April, the Grants Advisory Committee (GAC) awarded 21 in-cycle grants to well-deserving applicants totaling over $3.75 million. The A1F research portfolio continues to balance its focus on lung and liver research, with 64% focused on lung, 36% focused on liver. Thank you to the GAC members for their commitment and dedication, Dr. Andrew Wilson, A1F Scientific Director, Dr. Nicola Brunetti-Pierri (Chair), Dr. Jeffrey Atkinson, Dr. Igor Barjaktarevic, Dr. Maria Basil, Dr. Tomas Carroll, Dr. Dawn DeMeo, Dr. Ilaria Ferrarotti, Dr. Monica Goldklang, Dr. Joseph Kaserman, Dr. Ani Manichaikul, Dr. Stefan Marciniak, Dr. Victor Ortega, Dr. Pasquale Piccolo, Dr. Sheikh Tamir Rashid, Dr. Emer Reeves, Dr. Philip Rosenthal, Dr. Ron Rubenstein, Dr. David Rudnick, Dr. Karina Serban, Dr. Charlie Strange, Dr. Pavel Strnad, Dr. Alice Turner, Dr. Mike Wells, Dr. Darlene Dartt, Jesse Dill, and Jon Hagstrom, A1F BOD Chair.
“We are at a particularly exciting and critical moment for the Alpha-1 community. There are now numerous new potential therapeutics in the pipeline with diverse mechanisms of action, and I am optimistic that one or more of these treatments will prove beneficial in upcoming clinical trials. A1F is working thoughtfully and with urgency on many fronts to realize this vision. At the same time, the importance of discoveries remains high. Funding scientific research is one critical part of this approach. Many researchers who have focused their careers on Alpha-1 research, myself included, might not be doing so if it were not for the support they have received from the Alpha-1 Foundation over the years,” said Dr. Andrew Wilson, A1F Scientific Director.
One of Dr. Wilson’s primary goals, and something that John Walsh understood the importance of, is to continue to bring new, young investigators into the Alpha-1 research community to ensure that A1F continues to benefit from new ideas and high-quality research for years to come.
Thank you to the event sponsors AlphaNet, CSL, Grifols, and Takeda.
The New In-Cycle Grants application is now open: https://alpha1.org/grant-opportunities/
The following recipients were recognized at the event:
Research Grants:
- Lisa Cabrita, PhD, University College London
- Paul Ellis, MBCHB, PhD, University of Birmingham, UK
- Craig Hersh, MD, MPH, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Nilsson Holguin, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Lela Lackey, PhD, Clemson University
- David LaFon, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Maurizio Molinari, PhD, Fondazione per I’Istituto di Ricerca in Biomedicina Bellinzona
- Emily Moser, PhD, University of Florida
- Nunzia Pastore, PhD, Fondazione Telethon ETS
- Pasquale Piccolo, PhD, Fondazione Telethon ETS
- Vickram Tejwani, The Cleveland Clinic
- Emily van’t Wout, MD, PhD, Leiden University Medical Center
Clinical Pilot Grant:
- Sandeep Bodduluri, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Pilot & Feasibility Grants:
- Emma Leacy, PhD, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
- Leandro Soria, PhD from Fondazione Telethon ETS
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Grants:
- Debananda Gogoi, PhD, The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
- Shubham Kesarwani, PhD, Boston University
- Maria Magallon, PhD, University of Florida
John W. Walsh Career Development Grants:
- Shunqing Liang, PhD, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- Jingzhou Zhang, MD, MPH, Boston University
ATS/Alpha-1 Foundation Young Investigator Matching Grant:
- Shah Hussain, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Thank you again to the event sponsors AlphaNet, CSL, Grifols, and Takeda.
