Grifols Awards Winners of the 9th Annual eALTA Research Fellowship at 2012 ERS Meeting

Grifols Awards Winners of the 9th Annual eALTA Research Fellowship at 2012 ERS Meeting PR Newswire VIENNA, Sept. 4, 2012 - Awards fund early-career investigators' research to advance understanding and treatment of alpha(1)-antitrypsin deficiency VIENNA, Sept. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Grifols, a global healthcare company that specializes in the production of biological medicines derived from human plasma, announced today the recipients of the 2012 European Alpha(1)- Antitrypsin Laurell's Training Awards (eALTA). The annual awards, sponsored by Grifols, provide two fellowships of €50,000 to young investigators whose research contributes to the understanding and treatment of alpha(1)- antitrypsin deficiency (AAT deficiency). AAT deficiency is a rare, genetic condition in which low levels of the alpha(1) protein can result in severe lung and liver disease. The 2012 recipients of eALTA are Emily Fiona Arielle van 't Wout of Leiden University Medical Centre in The Netherlands and Riccardo Ronzoni of the University of Brescia in Italy. Van 't Wout and Ronzoni were presented with the awards September 2 at the 2012 European Respiratory Society (ERS) Annual Congress in Vienna during the Grifols-sponsored symposium. Van 't Wout's research project will explore the production and accumulation in lung cells of the Z-AAT protein – a mutated form of the AAT protein which gives rise to lung and liver damage.