Wauwatosa-based The Medical College of Wisconsin has received a $1.7 million grant to study genetic factors linked to cardiovascular diseases.
The grant is from the Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and the principal investigator is Julian Lombard, Ph.D., professor of physiology at MCW.
Lombard and her team will specifically be investigating the NRF2 gene, which helps regulate proteins that protect against oxidant stress, a disruption that can negatively impact the function and growth of blood vessels in those with high salt diets.
Individuals with high salt diets are susceptible to high blood pressure and other diseases that impact blood vessel function. The NIH grant will be used to study the genetic absence of NRF2, and whether the gene could be used as a treatment for oxidant stress.
