The American Lung Association, which is based in Chicago and has a Michigan office in Madison Heights, announced its new research team, which includes Venkateshwar Keshamouni, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
This year, the organization has increased its research investment to $8.7 million through awards for its Airways Clinical Research Center Network and its awards and grants program.
Keshamouni received the Lung Cancer Discovery Award for his project “NK Cell-mediated Immunotherapy against Lung Cancer.” In the project, Keshamouni proposes a new mechanism by which a key immune cell type present in the body targets spreading tumor cells to prevent metastasis, or the process by which cancer cells travel away from the initial tumor and form another one. The proposal aims to define the role of a protein that mediates this tumor cell killing by the immune cells and tests strategies to enhance the protein expression in tumor cells and also to boost the immune cell functions by modulating receptors that recognize the protein.
Research projects funded by the Lung Association are selected through scientific review and represent a range of projects designed to help combat and reduce lung disease.
The American Lung Association works to save lives by improving lung heath and preventing lung disease through research, education, and advocacy. The work of the organization is based on four strategic imperatives: to defeat lung cancer, to improve the air, to reduce the burden of lung diseases on individuals and their families, and to eliminate tobacco use and tobacco-related diseases.
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