One scientist’s work to treat allergies is bringing international attention to Luna Innovations Inc. and Danville.
Dr. Chris Kepley, Ph.D., the nanoImmunology Group Leader at Luna nanoWorks in Danville, was nominated for the most prestigious award in the allergy field — the Phadia Allergy Research Forum 2010 Award.
The winner of the award and $50,000 will be announced June 7 in London, according to the PhARF Web site.
“It was a nice surprise,” Kepley said. “It’s always nice to be recognized.”
Kepley, who lives in Ringgold, hopes the attention will help Luna to develop nanomedicines to treat allergies.
“We are extremely excited about the ground breaking work that is being accomplished in Danville — especially in the area of developing pharmaceuticals for the treatment of allergies,” said Luna CEO Kent Murphy. “This distinguished recognition as an outstanding investigator proves that our nano-pharma product development team is truly world-class in Danville.”
Kepley came to Luna in 2007 and brought with him almost 20 years of research devoted to trying to find cures for allergies, asthma and arthritis.
Kepley and a team at Luna nanoWorks continue to investigate the targeted use of carbon nanomaterials in blocking allergic response. The National Institutes of Health awarded Luna a five-year, $1.6 million research project grant in 2008 to help with this work and to examine ways to treat allergies and other inflammatory disease.
Luna also was awarded $292,457 in stimulus funds in September 2009 for allergy and immunological diseases research, according to Recovery.gov.
The research team currently studies and tests human mast cells, which contain histamine. During this time of year, pollen activates those cells, Kepley explained.
Discovering ways of turning off the allergic response is also laying the foundation for new areas of research, Kepley excitedly said. For instance, Kepley and researchers can gain a better understanding of how immunotherapy works.
“We’re doing things here nobody else in the world is doing,” Kepley said. “We’re at the cutting edge of research right here in Danville.”
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