Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) awarded The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York a Project Grant of $246,750 under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) to support mechanistic research on CAV1.2 calcium channel dysregulation in hypertension. The research, which commenced July 15, 2026 and will conclude June 30, 2028, investigates how abnormal calcium channel function contributes to elevated blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats. The project employs transgenic mouse models to examine whether increased expression of CAV1.2 channels containing exon 9* is sufficient to generate hypertension and tests whether dysregulated vascular tone results from altered recruitment of channel activators or reduced targeting of channel inhibitors.

This research directly supports NHLBI's mission to foster hypothesis-driven mechanistic research on cardiovascular diseases across basic, translational, and clinical science domains. Columbia University's Health Sciences Division, a prominent academic research institution with extensive NIH funding experience, will conduct the investigation at its New York facility. The project contributes to the broader understanding of hypertension pathophysiology, which remains a critical risk factor for heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke affecting substantial segments of the American population.