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MUSC gets $10.8M to fight heart disease by Tim Gehret Public Relations MUSC researchers will continue their fight against heart disease with the help of a $10.8-million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Program.   The five-year renewal of a program that is unique in the Southeast will enhance the Center for Developmentally Based Cardiovascular Diseases (CDBCD), a five-year-old partnership between MUSC and the University of South Carolina (USC), which is aimed at promoting cell and molecular understanding of the common pathways that lead to cardiovascular disease.   The combination of cardiovascular developmental biology and regenerative medicine investigation supported at MUSC and in this COBRE program is unique and inherently translational, and may provide a model for other institutions to follow.   Nearly 1 million Americans die each year from cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and other diseases of the circulatory system, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).  CVD is South Carolina’s leading killer for both men and women among all racial and ethnic groups. More South Carolinians die from cardiovascular disease than the total number of people who died from all cancers, pneumonia, influenza, and car accidents combined, DHEC officials said.   CDBCD, formed in 2001, has been led by its director Roger Markwald, Ph.D., chairman of Cell Biology and Anatomy at MUSC. During the past five years, the program’s collaborative efforts have led to new NIH grants at MUSC and increased research collaboration between USC, Clemson and MUSC. These collaborations have catalyzed research projects in regenerative medicine and bio-engineering and contributed toward the establishment of three endowed chairs in regenerative medicine by the S.C. Legislature. It also has helped recruit outstanding new investigators and senior nationally-known scientists.   “The five-year renewal of the COBRE grant is both an endorsement of the progress being made by our COBRE investigators to understand the developmental basis of both pediatric and adult cardiovascular disease, as well as provide the first steps towards repairing or replacing diseased heart and vascular tissues using adult stem cells guided by the natural principles originally used during development to form new tissues and organs,” said Markwald. “It is our goal that this COBRE grant will continue to lift the boat for all cardiovascular research in our state and bridge the gap between the research bench and the bedside.”   The latest award now makes it possible to leverage the strengths or the original program to a more challenging goal through such measures as adding more investigators, an endowed chair, and a senior scientist.   “These awards will develop core research facilities and provide essential mentoring opportunities for young investigators working in traditionally under-funded states, so that they can eventually compete independently for NIH funding,” said Barbara M. Alving, M.D., National Center for Research Resources acting director. “By enhancing the intellectual infrastructure and encouraging multidisciplinary interactions, we hope to spur translational research successes and more quickly bring cures and treatments to patients who need them.”     Friday, Sept. 29, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.