NIH grants for groundbreaking research on alcohol-induced organ damage transferring to Auburn

Paul Thomes, a new faculty member in the Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology, conducts research on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying alcohol-associated organ damage — with a particular emphasis on autophagy, a major intracellular recycling process that plays a critical role in health and disease.

His research on alcohol-related organ damage has been awarded two prestigious grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – an R01 and an R21 – totaling approximately $2.85 million. These competitive awards will fund Thomes’ research aimed at advancing the understanding and treatment of alcohol-associated organ damage.

The R01 grant, valued at approximately $2.4 million over five years, supports Thomes’ investigation into how alcohol-induced changes in autophagy in intestinal epithelial cells cause damage to the gut and liver.

"Understanding these mechanisms will allow us to develop novel therapeutic strategies to prevent or treat alcohol-induced organ damage," Thomes said.

The R21 grant, valued at $450,000 over two years, will explore the role of alcohol-induced lysosome damage in liver cell death and inflammation. The study aims to uncover how damaged lysosomes in liver cells and macrophages contribute to Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease (ALD) progression, offering insights that could lead to targeted treatments for this widespread health issue.

Alcohol-related organ damage is a global health crisis, responsible for around 178,000 deaths annually in the U.S. Thomes’ research holds promise for identifying new therapeutic targets to prevent, manage and treat the damage caused by chronic alcohol overuse.

“Through these NIH awards, we aim to address critical gaps in our knowledge of how alcohol-induced cellular damage propagates throughout the body, particularly in the gut and liver,” he said. “Our findings could lead to the repurposing of FDA-approved drugs to prevent or treat alcohol-associated organ damage.”

Thomes’ research is particularly significant in the absence of FDA-approved treatments for ALD, a condition that continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide.