PHILADELPHIA - Daniel J. Rader, MD, chair of the Department of Genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Danish Saleheen, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, have been awarded a four-year, $2 million 2015 Grand Challenge Award from the American Heart Association (AHA).
The award to Rader, Saleheen, and their co-principal investigator Jennifer Van Eyk, PhD, director of basic science of the Barbra Streisand Woman’s Heart Center at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, is one of two such awards given nationally by the AHA’s Cardiovascular Genome-Phenome Study program, which funds research to promote the discovery of personalized treatments and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. The project enables researchers to access voluminous data from several major cardiovascular studies.
The research team will use two proteomic platforms, SOMAscan and SWATH, to generate data on 2,200 blood protein biomarkers from people of European, African-American, and South Asian ancestry, from participants in the Framingham Heart Study, Jackson Heart Study, and PROMIS study, respectively. They will assess the relationship of these blood proteins to genetic variants and risk of heart disease. The investigators hope to find blood proteins that predict cardiovascular risk and may be targets for novel therapies.
“By examining a very large number of novel blood proteins in a very large number of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds and their relationship to genetic variation and cardiovascular risk, we hope to identify proteins that are causally related to cardiovascular disease and thus potential new targets for preventive therapies," said Rader. "In addition, we hope to generate new biomarkers that could be used to predict risk of heart disease in a doctor's office or in the hospital."
The Grand Challenge Awards are a collaboration between the AHA, Boston University, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Boston University houses the Framingham Heart Study, the nation’s largest and longest-running heart research program, with data extending from the original participants into a third generation. The University of Mississippi Medical Center houses the Jackson Heart Study, the nation’s largest research study on African Americans, who are at increased risk for heart attack and stroke compared to other ethnic and racial groups.
###
Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4.3 billion enterprise.
The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 17 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $392 million awarded in the 2013 fiscal year.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.
Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2013, Penn Medicine provided $814 million to benefit our community.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.