LSUHSC's Lazartigues awarded $1.2 million grant

New Orleans, LA – Dr. Eric Lazartigues, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, has been awarded a $1.2 million Research Project (RO1) grant by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The 5-year grant will support his research to advance our understanding of the role of the brain in regulating blood pressure and the development of hypertension. Dr. Lazartigues' research could pave the way for the development of new treatments for cardiovascular disease – America's #1 killer.

Dr. Lazartigues' research group was the first to identify the presence of a new protein (ACE2) in the mouse brain. ACE2 can degrade the hormone, Angiotensin-II, in the brain. Angiotensin-II can increase blood pressure by acting in the brain and on blood vessels. Hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases are currently treated with drugs designed to block the production and action of Angiotensin-II. Dr. Lazartigues' grant will help determine the importance of ACE2 in the brain and how it alters the angiotensin system during the development of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. "This grant represents national confidence in the quality of research being conducted at the LSU School of Medicine as we continue to rebuild our research infrastructure after the devastation following Katrina ," notes Dr. Larry Hollier, Chancellor of LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans. According to the Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Health Statistics, an estimated 79.4 million American adults, or one in three, have one or more types of cardiovascular disease. These include high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, and congenital cardiovascular defects. Cardiovascular disease is the #1 killer in America, with an average death of one death every 36 seconds. Cardiovascular disease claims more lives each year than cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents and diabetes mellitus combined.