Following a competitive review process, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for Pennington Biomedical’s Metabolic Basis of Disease Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) was renewed for an additional five years. This Phase II renewal builds on the momentum achieved since the center’s establishment in 2020, enabling continued support for young scientists who are focused on the mechanisms through which nutrition and metabolism contribute to health.

More than 50% of lung-transplant recipients experience a rejection of their new lung within five years of receiving it, yet the reason why this is such a prevalent complication has remained a medical mystery. 

Now, a new Northwestern Medicine study has found that, following transplant and in chronic disease states, abnormal cells emerge and “conversations” between them drives the development of lung damage and transplant rejection.  

These findings not only help answer why rejection occurs, but they also have spurred immediate exploration of new drugs to treat transplant rejection and other lung-scarring diseases.