Project Grant K08HL168348

This federal Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) provides $151,578 to the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University to conduct research investigating the role of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF1A) in skeletal muscle protein homeostasis and sarcopenia development in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The research aims to determine how nocturnal hypoxemia, characterized by low oxygen saturation during sleep, dysregulates key muscle signaling and metabolic pathways through HIF1A-dependent mechanisms, leading to skeletal muscle loss in COPD patients. The project will utilize in vitro cell culture models as well as in vivo mouse models of COPD to elucidate these mechanisms, with the goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets for sarcopenia in COPD.