U Center for Lung Science and Health Awarded $8.4 Million Grant to Study Deadly Lung Disease

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (July 9, 2009) - Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School's Center for Lung Science and Health (CLSH) have been awarded a $8.4 million dollar five-year Program Project Grant (PPG) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF.

IPF, a chronic lung disease of unknown cause that is characterized by severe and progressive scarring of the lung tissue, affects about one out of every 10,000 people in the U.S. Currently there are no therapies available to treat this debilitating and deadly disease. Without a lung transplant, patients typically face a life expectancy of only three to five years. 

Researchers at the CLSH have been awarded this NIH grant in order to research the underlying disease mechanisms of IPF in hopes of translating their findings into new therapies for treating or curing this deadly disease. The project's principal investigator, Craig Henke, M.D., professor of medicine within the Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine Division at the University of Minnesota Medical School and a program advisor for the CLSH's Interstitial Lung Disease Program, recently published research in the Journal of Experimental Medicine which found that a specific defect in a cell known as a fibroblast is involved in the development of IPF. Henke and an interdisciplinary team of his colleagues, which consists of researchers from several University of Minnesota departments including Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Biostatistics, Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Mathematics, as well as pathology researchers working at the University of Michigan, will work to uncover the underlying molecular processes involved in the development of the fibroblasts which cause the lung tissue scarring in patients with IPF.

The Center for Lung Science and Health at the University of Minnesota, an interdisciplinary center affiliated with the Medical School, facilitates interdisciplinary research, education, and outreach activities in order to promote lung health and improve care of patients with lung disease. The Center is part of the University  of Minnesota Academic Health Center, one of the most comprehensive facilities for health professionals in the nation, fostering interdisciplinary study, research, and education. For additional information about the Center for Lung Science and Health, visit http://www.lung.umn.edu.

Contact:
Diane Kachel, Center for Lung Science and Health, 612-624-2671 or kach0034@umn.edu
Laura Stroup, Academic Health Center, 612-624-5680 or stro0481@umn.edu