The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research announced today it has raised $850,000 through a benefit concert tonight starring the band Earth, Wind & Fire. The concert, held at Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park in Oyster Bay, NY, on Long Island's north shore, was held in honor of the late Peter Karches, a major benefactor and friend of The Feinstein who lost his battle with leukemia in April.

Mr. Karches is a former Morgan Stanley executive who with his wife, Susan, pledged to support the work of two world-renowned chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) researchers at The Feinstein over the next five years - Nicholas Chiorazzi, MD, and Kanti Rai, MD. It was Mr. Karches' hope that the gift not only would improve treatments for patients with CLL, but give others the impetus to support research that might help find a cure for the disease.

The presenting sponsor of the concert was KeySpan Corporation, which for the second year in a row granted a competitive fellowship to support the research of a talented young investigator at The Feinstein, part of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. Robert Cattell, KeySpan's chief executive officer, announced the winner of this year's $50,000 award - Huan Yang, MD, PhD, an assistant investigator in the Laboratory of Biomedical Science.

Dr. Yang has been studying molecular events within the immune system that play a role in the development of a life-threatening illness called sepsis. In her latest study, which was just published in the July 10 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Dr. Yang discovered a key step along the way to organ damage as sepsis develops into its deadly form. Understanding this step and where it fits in the sequence of events that leads to organ failure and death will allow scientists to better target new therapies for sepsis.

As the 2006 KeySpan Fellow, Dr. Yang will continue to investigate these events in order to translate the science into tangible treatments for patients.

About The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
Located in Manhasset, NY, and part of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is among the top six percent of all institutions nationally that receive funding from the National Institutes of Health. Building on its strengths in immunology and inflammation, oncology and cell biology, human genetics, and neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, its goal is to understand the biological processes that underlie various diseases and translate this knowledge into new tools for diagnosis and treatment.

Contact:
Carol Strafford
(516) 465-2610
cstraffo@nshs.edu