Kenneth Rainin Foundation Awards $3 Million for Innovative Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Projects

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Kenneth Rainin Foundation announced today that it has awarded $3 million for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) research through its Innovator Awards program. Grants will support an international pool of early-career and seasoned researchers to study untested ideas that could lead to breakthrough discoveries about IBD.

Funded projects include an array of basic, translational, and clinical science research related to IBD, such as the microbiome, immunity and inflammation, and diet and nutrition. Grantees receive a $100,000 grant, and those who demonstrate significant progress toward their goals are eligible for an additional two years of support.

"This year's grantees are pursuing research that has the potential to yield important insights into this chronic disease." said Dr. Laura Wilson, Director of Health Strategy and Ventures at the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. "Our Innovator Awards provide critical initial support to high-risk research that will help us improve the prevention and prediction, as well as better management of the disease by doctors and patients."

With this round of grants, the Foundation is supporting an increased number of early-career investigators, new areas of research, and the development of pilot studies that will inform future larger trials. "We pursue the boldest ideas that can truly transform the way we approach this complex disease," said Dr. Averil Ma, chair of the Rainin Foundation's Scientific Advisory Board and Chief of Gastroenterology at the University of California, San Francisco.

"The generous support of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation will allow us to utilize the most cutting-edge technologies and rapidly advance our project to understand microbial factors that contribute to disease pathogenesis, and ultimately the quality of life of IBD patients," said Dr. Janelle Arthur, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

2017 Innovator Award grantees include:

• Janelle Arthur, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Megan Baldridge, MD, PhD, Washington University
• Ilana Brito, PhD, Cornell University
• Benoit Chassaing, PhD, Georgia State University
• Timothy Hand, PhD, University of Pittsburgh
• Holly Ingraham, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
• Ophir Klein, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
• Edward Nieuwenhuis, PhD, Utrecht Universiteit
• Noah Palm, PhD, Yale University
• Read Pukkila-Worley, MD, University of Massachusetts
• George Rainger, PhD, University of Birmingham
• Andrea Reboldi, PhD, University of Massachusetts
• Neal Silverman, PhD, University of Massachusetts

The Foundation will continue supporting 17 Innovator Award grantees from 2015 and 2016 that made significant progress in advancing their original research hypotheses. Several projects, including Dr. David Suskind's work on low carbohydrate diets in pediatric Crohn's disease patients, will transition preliminary findings to trials that measure impact on patient management and well-being. "Supporting a project from initial concept to implementation of a trial is exciting. We want to bring science closer to the patient, and these translational projects can have a significant impact on the lives of IBD patients," said Dr. Wilson.

"Funding from Kenneth Rainin Foundation has been absolutely critical for the progress of our project," said Dr. Iliyan Iliev, Assistant Professor, Joan and Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College. "We were supported from the very beginning, having exciting and promising clinical data in hand, but the rest of the project was conceptual. This project would not have been possible without the Foundation's support."

Innovator Award grantees that received continued support include: 

• Greg Barton, PhD, University of California, Berkeley
• Milena Bogunovic, MD, PhD, Pennsylvania State University
• Ken Cadwell, PhD, New York University
• Jean-Frederic Colombel, MD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Mohamed Abou Donia, PhD, Princeton University
• Jun Huh, PhD, Harvard University
• Iliyan Iliev, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College
• Kate Jeffrey, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Nobuhiko Kamada, PhD, University of Michigan
• Dan Littman, MD, PhD, New York University
• Tim Lu, MD, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Rick Maizels, PhD, University of Glasgow
• Eric Martens, PhD, University of Michigan
• Corinne Maurice, PhD, and Irah King, PhD, McGill University
• Gabriel Rabinovich, PhD, and Karina Mariño, PhD, Fundacion Instituto de Biologia y Medicina Experimental
• David Suskind, MD, Seattle Children's Hospital
• Kevin Whelan, PhD, King's College London

The Foundation also announced that it will host its seventh annual Innovations Symposium, "Basic Science and the Patient – Have You Two Met?," on July 16-17, 2018, in San Francisco. This event brings together scientific leaders, trainees, researchers and clinicians from around the world to collaborate and learn together to advance IBD research.

About the Kenneth Rainin Foundation
Kenneth Rainin Foundation collaborates with creative thinkers in the Arts, Education and Health. At the Rainin Foundation, we believe in taking smart risks to achieve breakthroughs. We support visionary artists in the Bay Area, create opportunities for Oakland's youngest learners, and fund researchers on the forefront of scientific discoveries. Since 2010, the Foundation has awarded over $17.5 million for promising scientific research projects with the potential to impact treatment and prevention of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. See krfoundation.org/ibd for more info on our health funding strategies.

SOURCE The Kenneth Rainin Foundation