With prevalence as high as 55% of individuals in the United States, hypertension is a major risk factor contributing to cardiovascular diseases and global mortality, hence remaining an increasingly important medical and public health issue. Dr. Eric Lazartigues, Professor of Pharmacology, Neuroscience and Medicine, and Director of the Cardiovascular Center of Excellence was awarded a $6.8 M (1R35 HL184169-01) grant to study how cardiometabolic disorders, including high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes, contribute to the dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system through epigenetic mechanisms. Using a translational approach from mouse to large animal models (pig) and ultimately humans, the Lazartigues Lab will investigate the epigenetics modifications taking place in the brain and associated with consumption of a hypercaloric Western diet. Promising therapeutic targets will be validated in a swine model before being proposed for clinical translation.

The National Institutes of Health R35 — Outstanding Investigator Award is designed to support established investigators with a strong track record, providing long-term, flexible support for an investigator’s entire research program, allowing focus on innovative, high-impact science. By supporting the lab as a whole rather than individual projects, it fosters innovation, mentorship, and high-impact science.

Dr. Lazartigues was also awarded a new Merit Award from the Veterans Administration (1I01 RD001135-01) to study the contribution of high blood pressure to vascular dementia.