Congratulations to Dr. Solomon Ofori-Acquah who was recently awarded a new NIH-NHLBI R01. Dr. Ofori-Acquah has been awarded annual direct costs of over $400,000 his grant titled, “Therapeutic Targets in Acute Chest Syndrome.” This proposal was submitted in response to the competitive funding opportunity titled NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01) under funding opportunity number PA-20-185.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is one of the most common genetic disorders in the world. It is characterized by many acute manifestations most notably the acute chest syndrome (ACS), a severe lung complication that causes premature death in SCD. Currently, there is no specific treatment for ACS, and so it continues to be a major clinical problem globally. We have identified a potential reason that might explain why children survive ACS 10-times better than adults. This project will help us understand the protection in children, and to see if we can exploit it to develop a new and specific treatment for ACS for all patients.
Read more from the University of Ghana: https://www.ug.edu.gh/news/professor-ofori-acquah-awarded-nih-multimillion-dollar-grant-sequence-whole-genome-dna-children