Project Grant R01HL181047

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute awarded the Trustees of Boston University $849,790 on September 1, 2026, under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) to decode regulatory variants in cardiovascular disease through functional annotation of non-coding variants associated with CVD.

The recipient will characterize non-coding regulatory variants and their mechanisms using high-throughput experimental approaches in human cardiomyocytes. Aim 1 encompasses biophysical characterization of approximately 9,000 disease-associated non-coding variants to determine how they alter the binding of transcription factors and transcription factor–cofactor complexes. The research will employ human embryonic stem cell–to-cardiomyocyte cell systems and an in vitro cascade approach, test small molecule inhibitors against target epigenetic cofactors to modulate variant impact on chromatin and gene expression, and apply genomic methods including ChIP-seq and CRISPR-based gene perturbation approaches to further characterize results.

Work is performed in Boston, MA. The period of performance extends from September 1, 2026, through May 31, 2030. The award is a Project Grant, a competitive research award supporting investigator-initiated research evaluated for scientific merit and program relevance through peer review and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council.