Upstate Medical University physician Auyon Ghosh has been awarded a $50,000 American Thoracic Society (ATS)-Foundation for Sarcoidosis research grant. The grant comes from the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR), the leading international nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a cure and improving care for sarcoidosis patients.
Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease that affects multiple organs in the body, but mostly the lungs and lymph glands. In people with sarcoidosis, abnormal masses or nodules (called granulomas) consisting of inflamed tissues form in certain organs of the body. These granulomas may alter the normal structure and possibly the function of the affected organs.
Ghosh’s project, “Gene Expression Signatures of Extrapulmonary Sarcoidosis,” will look to identify possible genes, particularly from a part of the cell machinery called mitochondria, that could be associated with multiorgan sarcoidosis.
“I’m hopeful that this project and my future work will help people with sarcoidosis for years to come,” said Ghosh. “I am so honored to be this year’s recipient of the ATS-FSR partnership grant. This award will help fund an exciting project that will investigate understudied aspects of sarcoidosis and provide me vital support as an early career physician-scientist studying this debilitating disease.”
“I’m hopeful that this project and my future work will help people with sarcoidosis for years to come,” he said.
FSR seeks partnership opportunities with organizations that share its passion for improving the lives of those impacted by sarcoidosis. FSR partners with the ATS to provide early career researchers the financial support to gather pilot data and pursue innovative research projects. This grant makes it possible for researchers to pursue early-stage research essential in establishing career independence and in obtaining larger grant funding in the future.
“FSR is pleased to partner with ATS in order to provide funding support for this important research project. Collaborations like this one are vital to accelerating research in sarcoidosis,” said Mary McGowan, FSR’s CEO. “We look forward to the critical learnings that will stem from Dr. Ghosh’s research efforts.”