UNR Grant

$2.3 Million Awarded to UNR to Advance Hypertension Research and Treatments

Alarge grant has been awarded to the University of Nevada Reno for research on hypertension. The competitive four year $2.3 million dollar grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH) was awarded to Yumei Feng Earley, Ph.D., M.D., associate professor, departments of pharmacology, and physiology and cell biology at the School of Medicine (UNR Med) to support her research on increased sympathetic nervous system activity which has been found to be a primary precursor of hypertension.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, puts extra stress on blood vessels and vital organs and is the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, including coronary heart disease as well as stroke, kidney disease, arrhythmia and dementia. It affects more than one in three adults in the U.S., and for 95 percent of patients, causes are unknown, according to the NIH.

“We’re studying how diets high in salt impact the brain, cause high blood pressure, and eventually lead to hypertension,” said Feng Earley. It’s not fully understood how the body regulates blood pressure, but Feng Earley explains that it may revolve

around epigenetics, or genes, the environment, and how the two interact with each other.

“We are identifying key insights into mechanisms that regulate blood pressure, as well as new levels of understanding in how hypertension develops,” she said. “This knowledge will advance the development of novel antihypertensive therapeutics, or high blood pressure treatments. Our overall goal is that this new antihypertensive agent will benefit hypertension patients through improved treatments. Early identification and long-term control of hypertension is key to preserving cardiovascular health.”

In addition to advancing Feng Earley’s research, the NIH funding will provide support for training future scientists involved on the project, including undergraduate students Ariana Gayban and Henry Liang; graduate students Simindokht Aliabadi, Silvana Cooper and Caleb Worker; postdoctoral fellow, Lucas Souza, and Gerald Bustos, research associate, who are on the research project team led by Feng Earley and co-led by Scott Earley, Ph.D., professor, department of pharmacology.

“High blood pressure is a major health threat and around half of people living with hypertension are unaware of their condition, putting them at risk of avoidable medical complications and death,” said UNR Med Dean Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D. “We are very proud to have Dr. Feng Earley and colleagues at UNR Med who are advancing approaches to treatment and control of hypertension in order to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases.”

“With the support of the NIH, our scientists and future scientists will be able to advance their discoveries of the epigenetic causes of hypertension, and provide critical new knowledge toward the development of effective treatments,” said Lucia Notterpek, Ph.D., associate dean for biomedical research at UNR Med. “This significant NIH funding is evidence that UNR Med is at the forefront of innovative solutions to improve human health.”