Brantly wins NIH mid-career award for alpha-1 antitrypsin work

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health awarded University of Florida scientist Mark Brantly, M.D., a mid-career investigator grant for outstanding mentorship and research on a protective protein called alpha-1 antitrypsin.

Brantly will receive about $650,000 in NIH funding over five years. The primary purpose of the award is to provide support for clinician-scientists so they can devote their efforts to patient-oriented research and act as mentors for beginning clinical investigators.

A professor of medicine and molecular genetics and microbiology at UF’s College of Medicine, Brantly focuses his research on the role of the natural anti-inflammatory protein alpha-1 antitrypsin in protecting the lung against injury. His research group bridges the gap between the basic sciences of genetics, cell biology and clinical medicine for the purpose of developing new therapies for individuals with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Individuals with this genetic disorder develop liver and lung disease that often is fatal at an early age.

Brantly was recruited from the NIH to UF in 1998 to be the director of UF’s Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Genetics Laboratory while leading basic science and clinical investigation of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. He joins two other UF Health Science Center faculty, Daniel J. Driscoll, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of pediatrics in the College of Medicine, and Julie Ann Johnson, Pharm.D., a professor of pharmacy practice at UF’s College of Pharmacy, who also have won the prestigious NIH mid-career investigator award.