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Albany Medical College Receives Grant to Study Causes of Vascular Diseases

ALBANY, N.Y., August 11, 2009 — Albany Medical College has been awarded a $1.9 million, five-year renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to further explore the mechanisms underlying artery disease and injury induced blockages of blood vessels. The research team will be led by Harold Singer, Ph.D., professor and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Sciences.

The grant renewal titled “Calcium/Calmodulin Activated Kinases in Smooth Muscle,” enables Dr. Singer and his team to advance their most recent findings which identified the changes that occur in a specific calcium-regulated protein following vascular injury, ultimately signaling the growth of cells in the blood vessel wall. To further their understanding, the research team will aim to identify the pathways of these intracellular signals that instigate the production of damaged cells and contribute to the advancement of vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and restenosis. 

The goal of this research is to identify a more targeted approach to developing new therapeutic treatments for vascular disease.    

Albany Medical Center is northeastern New York’s only academic health sciences center. It consists of Albany Medical College, Albany Medical Center Hospital and the Albany Medical Center Foundation, Inc. Additional information about Albany Medical Center can be found at www.amc.edu.

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