For Immediate Release

Contact: info@stopsarcoidosis.org

FSR-FUNDED RESEARCHER, LOBELIA SAMAVATI, MD, CONCLUDES PROJECT

WITH PROMISE OF ONGOING RESEARCH

Chicago, IL (21 June 2011) - In 2009, the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research awarded Lobelia Samaviti, MD from Wayne State University with a two-year $100,000 grant. Dr. Samavati recently submitted her final grant report to the Foundation. She identified an intracellular protein, MKP-1, that appears to be caused by a genetic variation and improperly regulated in sarcoidosis patients. This finding may have importance in understanding why for some patients sarcoidosis symptoms resolve themselves and in others the disease is chronic. Ultimately, Dr. Samavati’s findings may lead to new diagnostic tools and therapies.

Dr. Samavati’s work was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and she has submitted four applications to the National Institutes of Health for additional research funding. Through FSR’s grant program, we strive to assist researchers on a path of discovery that continues long beyond the duration of FSR’s funding.

We hope that with every research grant funded by FSR, the medical community comes to better understand sarcoidosis. "We are thrilled that FSR's commitment to research has resulted in such a wealth of knowledge being shared with the medical community. We hope that Dr. Samavati’s subsequent research will be supported by federal grant funding so that patients will continue to benefit from her commitment to sarcoidosis research," said Andrea Wilson, co-Founder and President of FSR.

Dr. Samavati’s successful research project exemplifies the increasing success of the overall research grants program at FSR. In 2010, Dr. Ed Chen of Johns Hopkins University and a team of researchers concluded a six-year investigation that revealed a link between sarcoidosis and overproduction of a specific protein trigger called serum amyloid A. “The increase in production of serum amyloid A explains for the first time how inflammation can persist in the lungs without being triggered by an active infection,” says study senior investigator and pulmonologist David Moller, MD, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and member of the FSR Scientific Advisory Board.

In the last six years, the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research has awarded $850,000 to support innovative research projects leading to an additional $1.2 million in subsequent awards for our researchers. A final review of 2011 submitted proposals has been completed, and the winning project will soon be announced.

About Sarcoidosis & FSR
Sarcoidosis (pronounced SAR-COY-DO-SIS) is an inflammatory disease that can affect almost any organ in the body. It causes heightened immunity which means that a person's immune system, which normally protects the body from infection and disease, overreacts, resulting in damage to the body's own tissues. Sarcoidosis is often serious and can even be life-threatening, especially if you do not know you have it. The cause remains unknown and there is no cure.

The Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR) is the nation’s leading organization dedicated to improving care for patients and to finding a cure for this disease. Since 2000, FSR has funded numerous domestic and international research efforts and has provided resources to thousands of patients, their families and their physicians. For more information, please visit www.stopsarcoidosis.org.