LSU Health Shreveport Researchers Receive Millions in NIH Funding for Infectious Diseases and Cardiovascular Diseases Research

LSU Health Shreveport researchers Ana-Maria Dragoi, MD, PhD and Shenuarin Bhuiyan, MD, PhD were recently awarded a combined total of more than $5 million in grant funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH). The grants were given for their research efforts in infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases.

Shenuarin Bhuiyan, an associate professor of Pathology & Translational Pathobiology, was awarded an R01 grant totaling $3,301,740 over five years from the NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. His project, “Novel mitophagy regulatory mechanism in heart failure,” investigates the role and mechanisms of Sigmar1-mediated activation of essential cellular processes macro-autophagy and mitophagy in protecting against heart failure. Bhuiyan’s hypothesis is that Sigmar1 can prevent heart failure by activating macro-autophagy and mitophagy, making it cardioprotective.

Ana-Maria Dragoi, an assistant professor of Molecular & Cellular Physiology, received an R01 grant totaling $1,788,500 over five years from the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Her project, “Mechanism of macrophages colonization in gonorrhea,” aims to study how the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae interacts with the immune system to evade natural immune responses in those infected with gonorrhea. This research could lead to new ways of combating and treating the disease.

LSU Health Shreveport stated that Dragoi’s and Bhuiyan’s grants are among the 31 active R01 grants awarded to researchers at the institution. These grants will further the important research being done in the field of infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases. To subscribe to The Times