NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The Jeffrey Modell Foundation said today it has provided $1 million to fund five research projects developing methods for diagnosing and treating genetic immune deficiency diseases, or primary immunodeficiencies (PIs).
The foundation is not able to disclose the winners of the Translational Research Program grants at this time due to reasons of confidentiality, a spokesperson for JMF told GenomeWeb Daily News in an e-mail.
The foundation said, however, that the winners include teams based in Boston, Washington, DC, France, Israel, and Italy. The winners were selected from a group of 42 applications the foundation received from 15 countries.
The foundation created the program to back research that will advance knowledge of and treatments, diagnostics, and cures for PIs. Specifically, the program aims to enhance knowledge of genotype-phenotype correlations and the mechanisms that underlie immune function and dysfunction. According to the foundation's website, the translational grants will provide up to $250,000 over a two-year period to each award winner.
PI affects as many as 10 million people worldwide, although most patients are undiagnosed and untreated, JMF said.