A record-breaking international attendance of 950 pulmonary fibrosis (PF) patients, healthcare professionals, caregivers and scientists honored researchers at the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation’s recent PFF Summit in San Antonio.

As part of this biennial event, the PFF announced the 2019 Poster Session award winners for their cutting-edge research to improve the understanding of PF.

A total of 61 academic and industry researchers and scientists in the field entered poster presentations on their latest work. The 2019 winners are as follows:

  • 1st Place: Jeremy Katzen, MD, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, “Transcriptional Profiling of Alveolar Epithelial Cells from Distinct Murine Surfactant Protein-C (SFTPC) Mutation Pulmonary Fibrosis Models Reveals Common Changes in Metabolic Reprogramming and Fibrogenic Pathways”
  • 2nd Place: Farida Ahangari, MD, Yale University, “Saracatinib, a Selective Src Kinase inhibitor, Blocks Fibrogenic Responses in In-Vitro, In-Vivo and Ex-Vivo Models of Pulmonary Fibrosis”
  • 3rd Place: Avraham Unterman, MD, Yale University, “Single Cell RNA Sequencing of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in IPF Reveals Immune Cells Changes Reflective of Disease Progression”
  • Honorable Mention: Arun Christian Habermann, AB, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), “Single-cell Analysis of Lung Epithelial Remodeling in Pulmonary Fibrosis”
  • Honorable Mention: Tejaswini Kulkarni, MD, MPH, University of Alabama at Birmingham, “Correlates of Survival after Autoantibody Reduction Therapy for Acute IPF Exacerbations”

“The PFF Summit 2019 Poster Session award winners are important catalysts for expanding research that will ultimately lead to successful therapies to improve care and quality of life for those affected by pulmonary fibrosis,” said William T. Schmidt, President and CEO of the PFF.

PFF Summit 2019 also included the announcement of PRECISIONS, a collaborative study led by co-principal investigators Dr. Fernando Martinez and Dr. Imre Noth that aims to transform the diagnosis and treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) by moving it into the era of precision medicine. The study is supported by a $22 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Three Lakes Partners, a philanthropic family organization, and will utilize data from the PFF Patient Registry and Biorepository.