Yifan Yuan, PhD, Assistant Professor and Konstantin Birukov, MD, PhD, Anesthesiology Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurial Research, were awarded the Accelerated Translational Incubator Pilot (ATIP) Grant. Their project entitled "Deciphering the Novel Role of VEGF-D in Acute Lung Injury" was approved for funding by the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), Institute for Clinical & Translational Research (ICTR).

Dr. Yuan, who joined the department last fall, stated that it is his privilege to receive the ATIP award to support their investigation of the molecular mechanisms of VEGF-D signalling in vascular biology and study its potential therapeutic role in combating ARDS. He also said that this pilot grant will provide strong support to generate critical preliminary data for the formulation of mechanistic hypotheses in future planned R01 applications. Congratulations to their success.