Hypertension is a leading cause of death and disability affecting over 50 million people in the United States and responsible for 200,000 deaths annually. Because hypertension and associated cardiovascular diseases are prevalent in Louisiana, Tulane Health Sciences Center established a Hypertension and Renal Center of Excellence, which has developed rapidly as a consequence of the substantial support received by the current COBRE award. The current COBRE has supported ten junior faculty members plus postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and medical students. Three junior faculty have received independent NIH research funding and a fourth just received a fundable score. Two junior faculty left Tulane following Katrina. Four new junior faculty were recently appointed and are projected for the renewal. The research infrastructure has been markedly enhanced by the Molecular, Imaging, and Analytical Core with state-of-the art facilities serving all members of the Hypertension and Renal Center. For the renewal period, the objectives are to provide an enriched mentoring environment to junior faculty investigators so that they can achieve nationally competitive status and to augment and strengthen the biomedical research capacity and infrastructure for Tulane investigators in hypertension, renal and cardiovascular disease. The link between hypertension and the kidneys is because many forms of hypertension result from abnormalities in kidney function due either to primary or congenital renal disease or to abnormal hormonal or environmental influences that affect renal function leading to progressive renal and vascular injury. The junior faculty selected, who will be mentored by senior experienced faculty, have diverse backgrounds which will contribute to cross fertilization of ideas and translational approaches to the study of hypertension and kidney disease. Projects designated for the next project period of support include basic studies on proximal tubular citrate transport, renal development, and renal vascular control, population studies on reduced carbohydrate intake and clinical/translation studies on endothelial dysfunction in chronic kidney disease. Collectively, the results will contribute to an increased understanding of the multiple interactions leading to regulation of kidney function, hypertension and kidney disease. This COBRE will continue to increase the number of competitive scientists in a disease specific area of extremely high biomedical relevance in this region.
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