LSUHSC's Lazartigues awarded $1.2 million grant

According to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospital's and the American Heart Association's 2005 Louisiana State of the Heart and Stroke Report, cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, was the number one killer of Louisianians in 2002, accounting for 35% of all deaths. In 2002, Louisiana had the ninth highest mortality rate due to cardiovascular disease and twelfth highest mortality rate for stroke when compared to all states and D.C.

"ACE2, is a natural regulator of cardiovascular function, transforming a bad guy into a good guy," says Dr. Lazartigues. "It is very likely that a few years from now, new therapies will target this enzyme to improve the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. This new grant provides us with the opportunity to figure out how it works."

According to the NIH, the Research Project (R01) grant is an award made to support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing the investigator's specific interest and competencies, based on the mission of the NIH. The Research Project Grant (R01) is the original and historically oldest grant mechanism used by NIH. The R01 provides support for health-related research and development based on the mission of the NIH.

"Dr. Lazartigues joined our faculty in August 2005," said Dr. Steve Nelson, Dean of the School of Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans. "Despite the challenges of the unprecedented disaster that struck as he was settling in, Dr. Lazartigues refused to abandon his school or his new home, continuing this promising line of research here at LSU. This is his first RO1 grant, awarded on its first submission when it's not unusual for investigators to submit grant proposals multiple times before they're funded."

LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans educates Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's academic health leader, LSUHSC comprises a School of Medicine, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, and Schools of Allied Health Professions, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. LSUHSC faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout Louisiana. In the vanguard of biosciences research in a number of areas worldwide, LSUHSC faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, better treat, or cure disease.