Dr. Bruce Klein Awarded NIH/NIAID Grant

Bruce Klein, MD
Bruce Klein, MD

Congrats to Bruce Klein, MD, on his recent R01 research grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID). His 4-year, $1.85 million project is entitled, “Lung epithelial cell regulation of immunity to inhaled fungi”. Our fragile ecosystem has become increasingly plagued by airborne spores from both old and newly emergent fungi due to the excavation of new land and ever-changing climate. Despite this growing public health challenge, little is known about how lung epithelial cells that line the respiratory mucosa sense and manage these repeated spore challenges with each inhaled breath. This project aims to address that gap in knowledge while identifying new avenues for therapeutically targeting early events designed to optimize mucosal immunity to fungi and lung inflammation and powerful gene editing tools to advance the study of lung epithelial cells by the field.