Northwestern Medicine awarded $8.4 million for chronic rhinosinusitis research

The Northwestern Medicine Sinus and Allergy Center received a grant for more than $8.4 million from the NIH to advance development of new treatments for chronic rhinosinusitis, according to a press release.

The research will be supported through the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and focus on the epidemiology, genetics and pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS).

“Treatments for [CRS] have remained largely unchanged for decades, and there is a great need for more research,” Robert P. Schleimer, PhD, of the Chronic Rhinosinusitis Integrative Studies Program (CRISP) and chief of the division of allergy-immunology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a press release. “Many patients with CRS are forced to undergo multiple surgeries to successfully widen or clear their nasal passages. Rhinosinusitis is also the number one reason adults in America are prescribed antibiotics, which is a major cause for the growing number of antibiotic-resistant strains of infectious diseases.”

The 5-year grant will support research groups from Northwestern Medicine, the University of Chicago and Geisinger Health System, which encompass the CRISP, according to the release.

“There has traditionally been a lack of funding for CRS research,” Robert Kern, MD, chair of otolaryngology at Northwestern Memorial and the Feinberg School of Medicine, said in the release. “I think the NIAID recognizes that there is an unmet need for more CRS research and that our Sinus and Allergy Center is well-equipped to help guide that research since it is composed of otolaryngologists, allergists and bench scientists who often don’t collaborate at other medical centers.”