Thus far in 2017, the University of California Los Angeles has received over $6.8 million in funding from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). This funding has been awarded through multiple grants intended to support cardiovascular research.
Some of the projects aimed at finding new scientific solutions to cardiovascular issues include: A study of how the parathyroid affects aortic disease. The Vice Chair of Cardiovascular and Vascular Medicine Director, Linda Demer, M.D. PhD. is the principal investigator for this. Research into new molecules found in triglyceride metabolism and adipogenesis (the process of cell differentiating into fat cells) is being led by Luisa Iruela-Arispe, Ph.D. Dr. Iruela-Arispe currently serves as Professor and Vice-Chair of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology at UCLA.
One of the largest NIH’s (National Health Institute) NHLBI grants, went to Dr. Peipei Ping, Professor of Physiology, Medicine/Cardiology, and Bioinformatics. This award of over $900k will fund the project titled “Omics Phenotyping for Identifying Molecular Signatures of The Healthy and Failing Heart: An Integrated Data Science Platform.” This research will employ a multi-pronged strategy for identifying molecular signatures that drive cardiac phenotypes, or traits such as morphology, development and physiological properties.