New Research Collaborative Receives Nearly $11 million

Three Department of Medicine faculty—Allan Brasier, MD, professor, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism; Nathan Sandbo, MD, associate professor, Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine; and Chair Lynn Schnapp, MD, George R. and Elaine Love Professor—are key members of a new research collaborative that has just received nearly $11 million in backing from the U.S. Department of Defense to investigate idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

IPF is a progressive scarring disease of the lungs that kills an estimated 40,000 people every year in the United States. Despite its prevalence, little is understood about how the disease takes hold or advances, and doctors have few effective therapies at their disposal.

The research group will focus on the biological processes that promote lung scarring, as well as possible treatments for IPF.

“An interdisciplinary approach where cell biologists, engineers, lung doctors and medicinal chemists are all able to work closely together is key to tackling a difficult disease like IPF,” says Dr. Brasier, who is the group’s lead principal investigator (PI) as well as executive director of the University of Wisconsin (UW) Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR). “This program provides a template for pushing the envelope to address otherwise intractable research problems through harnessing the clinical and research strengths here at UW–Madison.”

The group includes investigators from ICTR, the UW College of Engineering, the UW School of Pharmacy, and other departments within the UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH).

Read the full story from UW News.