Two Michigan State University (MSU) professors have received nearly $400,000 for their cardiovascular research projects as part of the first wave of stimulus funding from federal agencies.
The money, which is from the National Institutes of Health via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is designed to preserve and create jobs in Michigan while also investing in important medical research, says U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, whose office announced the awards.
Narayanan Parameswaran, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Physiology, received $375,141 for his research on the molecular aspects in the development of chronic diseases. His work focuses on atherosclerosis, one of the major causes of heart attack and stroke.
“Understanding how atherosclerosis develops is an important question in cardiovascular medicine because if we understand the ‘how,' then we can eventually use that information to develop therapeutic drugs to prevent or treat this disease,” he says.
Parameswaran’s study focuses on how a certain protein called GRK2 affects the development of atherosclerosis. The research will help determine if the protein can be targeted for drug development in the treatment of atherosclerosis and other chronic diseases.
Gregory Fink, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, received $17,632 for a research project he’s doing on high blood pressure.
“The work specifically looks at how a high-salt diet affects the arteries and veins in the gastrointestinal system,” Fink says. The project is in its seventh year.
The money announced June 2 was part of $2.7 million in NIH funding that went to six institutions statewide. MSU has about 150 grant applications pending as part of the federal stimulus money and expects to hear on other awards soon.
Source: MSU
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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