Federal Grant Awarded To Establish Disease Center

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has received a $2.6 million federal grant to establish the Oklahoma Rheumatic Disease Research Cores Center. The grant from the National

Tuesday, September 4th 2007, 9:42 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has received a $2.6 million federal grant to establish the Oklahoma Rheumatic Disease Research Cores Center. The grant from the National Institutes of Health will be awarded over a five-year period.

It will fund studies aimed at health problems characterized by pain in the muscles and joints. The project will focus on autoimmune rheumatic diseases, conditions in which the body mistakenly turns the weapons of its own immune system against itself.

Those diseases, which include lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, affect more than 23 million Americans.

Among the pilot projects for the first year of the grant are the evaluation of a new candidate molecule for targeting lupus and a study examining risk factors for autoimmune disease in children.

For more information about the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, click here.