Cardiovascular Translational Research Facility

Project Description Narrative:

This project will provide the necessary infrastructure for translational research in cardiovascular disease, allowing novel investigator-initiated experiments in peripheral and pulmonary vascular function. These experiments link basic science and clinical science by focusing on alterations in endothelial function and cardiac function in humans and by evaluation the diagnostic utility of novel tests in pulmonary hypertension.

This project will allow for examination of how weightlifting can impair vascular function in sedentary subjects, while the same stress produces no such dysfunction in athletes. Other projects to benefit from this application include comparison of the vascular benefit of an Atkins vs. American Heart Association diet, assessment of the mechanism of endothelial dysfunction in elite women athletes and determining the effect of cirrhosis on peripheral vascular function. An ancillary goal will be to develop novel methods to assess endothelial function in humans by using peripheral arterial tonometry, MRI, and possibly computed tomography.

New diagnostic paradigms will be developed to identify when best to start therapies based on non-invasive testing of subjects with pulmonary hypertension.