The PCD Foundation is delighted to announce the grantees for our American Thoracic Society (ATS) PCD Foundation Partner Grants for 2016. Thanks to the generous support of two PCD families, we were actually able to support three research grants for this cycle. All have direct application to PCD:

*Martina Brueckner, Yale University. Dr. Brueckner’s grant is focused on gene identification and the genetic overlap between congenital heart defect genes and PCD genes. Special thanks to the John and Lynn Sabre family for sponsoring this grant.

*Amjad Horani, MD, Washington University St. Louis. Dr. Horani’s grant proposes to look at ‘pre-assembly’ factors for building a functional cilium. By understanding this process and what goes wrong in some forms of PCD, he hopes to identify potential targets for therapy. Special thanks to the Kovler Family Foundation for sponsoring this grant.

*Lawrence Ostrowski, PhD, UNC, Chapel Hill. Dr. Ostrowski’s grant is focused on using gene editing technologies to attempt to correct mutations that cause PCD. This exciting project will provide important early information as we move into the age of genomic medicine.

All three grantees are well known to the PCD Foundation for their ongoing interest in cilia/PCD for their superior research. We congratulate our awardees and thank the American Thoracic Society for partnering with us on these important initiatives.

For more information: http://foundation.thoracic.org/what-we-do/2016-research-awardees.php