Two EVMS scientists have received a $400,000 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to fund immune system research that may one day benefit a broad range of patients.

Neel Krishna, PhD, associate professor of microbiology and molecular cell biology, and Kenji Cunnion, MD, associate professor of pediatrics, are co-investigators on the two-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

Julie Kerry, PhD, interim chair of microbiology and molecular cell biology, says competition is extremely competitive for limited NIH funding.

"The fact that Neel and Kenji were able to obtain funding for their project reflects the high quality of their research and the potential clinical impact of their findings," she says. "It also illustrates the value of collaboration between the clinical and basic science departments that leads to these types of translational research efforts."

The grant is an R21, a type of funding reserved for a new line of research that is considered exploratory but also has the potential for a significant impact.

The research, "Structure and function analysis of C1/C1q and MBL using a novel small peptide inhibitor," focuses on the complement response, an invaluable part of the human immune system. The complement response defends the body from infections, but it can turn harmful or even deadly under certain circumstances.

Researchers have long sought a means to tame the complement response. The discovery could impact the treatment of a broad range of autoimmune diseases, like lupus and arthritis, as well as life-threatening issues such as heart attack and traumatic injury.

In a lab setting, Drs. Krishna and Cunnion have disabled the complement response and even turned it off and on. The R21 grant will help them to further optimize their compound for pre-clinical testing in animal models of inflammatory diseases.