New Grant: Award Supports Cardiovascular Research

Herdeline Ardoña

Sept. 22, 2023 - Principal investigator: Herdeline Ardoña, assistant professor, chemical and biomolecular engineering

Award: $2,555,545 over five years

Funding agency: National Institutes of Health - National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute R01

Project: This research involves developing photoexcitable biomaterials for promoting the structural and functional maturity of human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, the cells responsible for contraction of the heart. Specifically, the researchers will engineer peptide-based materials to render cells to be light-responsive, enabling the conversion of light to stimulatory cues that help promote maturation of the cardiomyocyte. If successful, the outcomes will be useful for building higher fidelity cardiovascular models for drug discovery, risk assessment and disease mechanism studies.

Together with the support she received in 2022 through an R56 bridge grant, Ardoña will have been awarded a total of about $2.6 million to address challenges in the immaturity of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.

More information: https://reporter.nih.gov/search/w231_qcP7UitDt4nQGtWvQ/project-details/10628281

– Lori Brandt

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