The Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR) announces $100,000 in funding for support of research aimed at improving diagnosis, management, and treatment of cardiac sarcoidosis.
FSR awarded two grants, each in the amount of $50,000, to Senthil Selvaraj, MD, MS, MA, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant at Duke University Medical Center and faculty member at the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute and for his innovative project, “Diagnostic Utility of SGLT2 Inhibition to Facilitate Myocardial Glucose Suppression During Evaluation of Cardiac Inflammation on FDG-PET,” and to Daniela Čiháková, MD, PhD, D (ABMLI), Professor of Immunology in the Department of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Medicine and Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health at the JHU (an FSR Global Sarcoidosis Clinic Alliance Founding Member)for her project, “3D Morphological and Spatial Transcriptomic Analysis of Cardiac Sarcoidosis.”
“We are absolutely delighted to receive this funding support from the FSR. With this grant, we aim to improve the specificity of cardiac sarcoidosis diagnosis with FDG-PET using a novel strategy incorporating combined SGLT1/2 inhibition with sotagliflozin. Further, we leverage a strong academic collaboration between Duke University and University of Pennsylvania with co-PI Dr. Paco Bravo” says Dr. Selvaraj.
“The 2023 FSR Sarcoidosis Cardiac Grant award will allow us to use the novel 3D multi-omic pathology to determine unique properties of vasculature surrounding cardiac sarcoidosis granulomas and find new potential biomarker targets and histological criteria for cardiac sarcoidosis diagnosis. I am proud to bring my expertise in cardiovascular immunology to work in partnership with my extraordinary collaborators of Dr. Ashley Kiemen, who focuses on computational pathology, and Dr. Nisha Gilotra, who brings clinical sarcoidosis expertise to this project. The project in my lab will be spearheaded by computer analyst Abdel Daoud. The funding from FSR will allow us to complete the ambitious project and to show if there is a potential link between vascularization and the immune composition of cardiac sarcoidosis granulomas,” says Dr. Čiháková.
“FSR is thrilled to support this extraordinary project through our cardiac sarcoidosis-specific grant,” says Mary McGowan, FSR’s CEO. “The learnings from this research could be groundbreaking in improving diagnosis, prognosis assessment, and treatment management of not only those living with cardiac sarcoidosis, but for many other inflammatory diseases.”
FSR is dedicated to accelerating sarcoidosis research through fellowships, small grants, large grants, and disease specific grants to advance sarcoidosis research and advance care for those living with sarcoidosis. FSR has provided a total of over $6.5 million dollars in funding in support of sarcoidosis research. To learn more about FSR’s Research and Grant Programs, please visit: www.stopsarcoidosis.org/fsr-grants/.