July 18, 2008 College News - The Medical College of Wisconsin has received a five-year, $1.8 million National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant to study the mechanisms linking respiratory viral infection to allergic disease and asthma.
Mitchell H. Grayson, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Allergy and Immunology), is principal investigator for the grant.
“The prevalence of allergic disease is increasing in the modern world, and severe respiratory viral infections early in life impart a greatly increased risk for asthma and allergic disease,” said Dr. Grayson.
Dr. Grayson hopes to understand how respiratory viral infections early in life contribute to the development of allergies and asthma. He is studying the role of immune cells that are critical to the development of respiratory virus-induced allergic disease. These studies should provide the basis for development of new therapies to prevent or treat asthma and allergic diseases.