The Milken Institute Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC), in partnership with the Ann Theodore Foundation (ATF), today announced that the Ann Theodore Foundation Breakthrough Sarcoidosis Initiative (ATF-BSI) has awarded five grants totaling more than $2.5 million to interdisciplinary research teams. Concurrently, the two partners have launched ATF-BSI's fifth round of philanthropic funding via a new request for proposals (RFP) related to sarcoidosis research.
ATF-BSI's fourth cohort of awardees spans five funded projects (listed below). Each project is associated with an institution with which the project's lead investigator is affiliated. Some funded projects include investigators and researchers at additional institutions.
• Institution: University of California, San Francisco, US
Lead investigator: K. Mark Ansel, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
Project: Revealing pathogenic signatures in sarcoidosis using single-cell genomics
• Institution: University of Minho, Portugal
Lead investigator: Agostinho Carvalho, PhD, Principal Investigator and Vice Director at the School of Medicine's Life and Health Sciences Research Institute
Project: (Dys)regulation of phagosomal dynamics in sarcoidosis pathogenesis
• Institution: Yale University, US
Lead investigator: Changwan Ryu, MD, Assistant Professor, School of Medicine
Project: mtDNA-TLR9 induce fibroblast activation in stage IV sarcoidosis
• Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison, US
Lead investigator: Bridget Shields, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine and Public Health
Project: Elucidating the metabolic characteristics of sarcoidosis
• Institution: Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Lead investigator: Georg Stary, MD, Principal Investigator, Department of Dermatology
Project: Deciphering the role of FRC-like fibroblasts in cutaneous sarcoidosis
ATF and SPARC also invite independent researchers who are interested in conducting research in sarcoidosis or other granulomatous diseases to explore the new RFP for an upcoming round of funding to be announced mid-year 2026. One-page letters of intent will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 23, 2025. Funded projects will be eligible for up to $460,000 in funding over two years, and funded projects tied to interdisciplinary research teams will be eligible for up to $575,000 over two years. Potential applicants are encouraged to submit letters of intent regardless of whether they have prior experience in sarcoidosis-specific experience; applicants without experience in sarcoidosis are not required to co-apply with a sarcoidosis expert to qualify for funding.
Sarcoidosis, a debilitating and sometimes fatal inflammatory condition, is marked by abnormal clusters of immune cells in various organs-most frequently in the lungs. In the absence of a cure or even disease-specific treatments, people living with sarcoidosis may experience extreme fatigue, breathing difficulties, joint pain, fever, or eye inflammation. These complications may resolve spontaneously in one to two years for some individuals, while they may be lifelong or recurrent for others.
Due to historically meager funding for sarcoidosis research, few clinicians and researchers study the disease. To change that, ATF and SPARC have partnered since 2020. Among other efforts, they have published a Giving Smarter Guide that identifies strategic opportunities for philanthropic investment in sarcoidosis and launched ATF-BSI, which has since committed over $10 million to sarcoidosis research. To date, more than 20 teams from over 15 institutions have used ATF-BSI's funding to initiate research aimed at advancing understanding of sarcoidosis' underlying biology, which is needed to develop novel, effective therapeutics.
Achieving better treatment and care for sarcoidosis isn't explained by a lack of scientific interest or by the nature of the disease itself-it's been limited by insufficient resources and field organization. As each new cohort of funded researchers receives the support they need, we're proud not only to activate promising research directions but also to grow the nascent community of scientists and clinicians who can build shared knowledge, create resources for the field, and train an upcoming generation of researchers to enable continuous progress for years to come. We believe that better treatments are in sight."
Cara Altimus, PhD, managing director of SPARC
"With so much about sarcoidosis remaining a mystery-why so many people experience different symptoms of varying severity, sometimes temporarily and sometimes permanently-the medical community is limited in the treatment they can offer," said Lisa Spalding, spokesperson for the Ann Theodore Foundation. "We must meet this moment by supporting those who seek to answer those questions, as a necessary step toward treating the roots of this debilitating illness."
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