Researchers Receive $1.4 Million In American Heart Association Grants

NEW YORK (October 17, 2008) - The American Heart Association has awarded new grants to 56 New York state researchers, including seven from Columbia University, with each of their awards effective July 1, 2008. Scientific advances made possible through American Heart Association-funded investigators, coupled with the public awareness programs championed by its volunteers, have improved the outlook for patients at risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, the organization said. These awards are were given through the AHA’s Founders Affiliate, which includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. The affiliate is currently funding nearly $83 million worth of research. Having invested more than $1 billion during the past 10 years, the American Heart Association is second only to the federal government in cardiovascular disease and stroke research funding nationally. The investigators who are receiving these new grants are committed to helping the American Heart Association eradicate heart disease and stroke. The new awardees from Columbia receiving a total of $1,426,000 are: Jeanine D’Armiento, M.D., Ph.D.; National Established Investigator Award; $500,000; “Novel Mechanisms of MMP Induction in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells” Qing Fan, Ph.D.; National Scientist Development Grant; $308,000; “Structural and functional analysis of human GABA(B) receptors” Gabriele Grunig, D.V.M, Ph.D.; Grant-in-Aid; $198,000; “Pulmonary Arterial Muscularization - Identification of Critical Pathogenic Immune Mediators” Edward Laufer, Ph.D.; Grant-in-Aid; $198,000; “Regulation of adrenocortical aldosterone producing cell homeostasis and regeneration” David Malito (graduate student); Predoctoral Fellowship; $42,000; “Molecular Mechanisms of Arrhythmia Linked to the Cardiac Sodium Channel” Pascale Monzo, Ph.D.; Postdoctoral Fellowship; $90,000; “Characterization of the molecular and cellular function of the dynein-interacting protein NudC” Yaping Pan, Ph.D.; Postdoctoral Fellowship; $90,000; “Kvbeta subunit as a target for novel modulators of voltage-dependent Shaker family K channels” Other institutions recognized by the American Heart Association’s Founders Affiliate include: Albany Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Buffalo State College, Cornell University, Jacobi Medical Center, Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center, Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Narrows Institute for Biomedical Research, New York Medical College, NYU School of Medicine, St. Francis Hospital, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse University, University of Rochester Medical Center, and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. - ### - Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in 1767, Columbia’s College of Physicians & Surgeons was the first institution in the country to grant the M.D. degree and is now among the most selective medical schools in the country. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and state and one of the largest in the United States. Founded in 1924, the American Heart Association today is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary health organization dedicated to building healthier lives, free of heart disease and stroke. These diseases, America’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers, and all other cardiovascular disease, claim nearly 870,000 lives per year. In fiscal year 2006 -07 the association invested more than $554 million in research, professional and public education, advocacy and community service programs to help all Americans live longer, healthier lives. To learn more, call 1-800-AHA-USA1.