A $9.1 million program project grant renewal will allow a team of University of Nebraska Medical Center scientists to continue its groundbreaking heart failure research.
The project was first funded in 1999 by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute — a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This is the second time the grant has been renewed.
"We are excited by the NIH’s continued support of our research," said Irving H. Zucker, Ph.D., chairman of the department of cellular and integrative physiology and director of the grant. "I’m grateful for the continued hard work and commitment by the members of our team in our work to confront heart failure."
Tom Rosenquist, Ph.D., UNMC vice chancellor for research, said Dr. Zucker’s leadership of a world-class team is a model for the best practice in the complex world of 21st century science "His scientific innovation, energy and productivity have made him a leading international figure in the study of cardiovascular physiology," he said.
UNMC researchers whose projects will benefit from the grant are:
- Dr. Zucker — In his work, Dr. Zucker focuses on how exercise training can reduce levels of a molecule — called angiotensin II — that plays a key role in heart failure;
- Kaushik Patel, Ph.D., professor of cellular and integrative physiology — Dr. Patel focuses on nitric oxide mechanisms in an area of the brain known as the Paraventricular Nucleus (PVN). He has shown these mechanisms malfunction during heart failure. His work also shows that exercise training or gene therapy improves the nitric oxide mechanisms within the PVN, which lessons the autonomic complications of heart failure; and
- Harold Schultz, Ph.D., professor of cellular and integrative physiology — Dr. Schultz’s work focuses on the chemoreflex function, which has been shown to be exaggerated in heart failure. This exaggeration contributes not only to altered breathing but to elevated sympathetic nerve activity, which damages the failing heart.
The grant also provides funds for three core facilities and the following co-investigators:
- Kurtis Cornish, Ph.D., professor of cellular and integrative physiology; core director;
- Shaymal Roy, Ph.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology;
- Lie Gao, Ph.D., assistant professor of cellular and integrative physiology;
- Wei Wang, Ph.D., associate professor of cellular and integrative physiology;
- Hong Zheng, M.D., assistant professor of cellular and integrative physiology;
- Yu-long Li, M.D., assistant professor of emergency medicine; and
- Matthew Zimmerman, Ph.D., assistant professor of cellular and integrative physiology.
In heart failure, the heart cannot pump enough blood throughout the body. The NIH reports that about 5 million people in the United States have heart failure and the condition is the main cause of hospital admission for patients older than 65 years old.
The condition causes or contributes to about 300,000 deaths annually in the United States.
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources now exceeds $82 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,600 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.
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