Yan lands national psoriasis research grant
Among six nationally to receive award from National Psoriasis Foundation.
U of L' s Jun Yan, M.D., Ph.D., is one is of six scientists nationally to receive a two-year, $200,000 Translational Research Grant from the National Psoriasis Foundation.
Jun Yan, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Louisville Department of Medicine and James Graham Brown Cancer Center is one of six scientists on the forefront of psoriatic disease research to receive a two-year, $200,000 Translational Research Grant from the National Psoriasis Foundation.
The grants, totaling $1.2 million, support projects that move laboratory or clinical discoveries into work that benefits patients.
Overall, 26 scientists received a total of $2.06 million in grants from the National Psoriasis Foundation to study psoriasis—the most common autoimmune disease in the country, affecting as many as 7.5 million Americans—and psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory joint and tendon disease.
"Dr. Yan is a top scientist and his work in cancer and psoriasis is world-class," Dr. Jesse Roman, Chairman of the University of Louisville Department of Medicine said. "I expect great things coming out of this project."
Yan's research had determined that a novel immune cell—called a gamma deltaT cell—play a critical role in development of psoriasis by producing a large amount of the inflammation inducing factor IL-17.
Yan hopes to regulate these immune cells and determine how blocking their pathway decreases skin inflammation. This information could lead to new strategy for treating psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
"The National Psoriasis Foundation is committed to funding promising research," Chip Newton of the National Psoriasis Foundation's Scientific Advisory Committee said. "This year, due to a record number of applicants, we awarded the highest number of grants and dollars in our organization's history. Each of these projects has tremendous potential to advance our knowledge of psoriatic diseases, lead to new treatments, and, we hope, even a cure for these diseases."
