Congressman Gonzalez Praises Nearly $600,000 in Federal Funding for Cardiovascular Disease Research at UTRGV

WASHINGTON – Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) $585,642 for cardiovascular disease research.

The award will be used to finance the Genetic Determinants of Lipidomic Variation and Their Role in Cardiovascular Disease Risk project, which is already underway under the direction of principal researcher Dr. Joanne Curran from the Department of Human Genetics at the School of Medicine. The heterogeneous disease currently shows no clear mechanism as to why variations in plasma lipid levels in individuals may exist to be the correlation for being at risk of cardiovascular disease.

"Cardiovascular disease is the number one leading cause of death around the world," Congressman Gonzalez said. "This new funding will allow the university to dive deeper into the preliminary risks of what may cause cardiovascular disease and potentially help to identify residents who might be at risk. I am excited to see our local university conducting research that is innovative and has the potential to benefit the health and well-being of our community."

With this funding, researchers continue to study the influence of genetic variation on the human lipidome and prediction of cardiovascular disease in Mexican American individuals, using a mixed longitudinal design. The project is anticipated to run until December 31, 2021.

"In this project we will exploit whole genome sequence information using a mixed longitudinal design in powerful extended pedigrees of Mexican American individuals," Dr. Joanne Curran said. "This project will generate novel lipid endophenotypes that may represent better predictors of disease risk. The combination of these precise biological phenotypes and whole genome sequence gives us an unprecedented opportunity to identify novel genes and functional variants influencing human lipid variation and risk of cardiovascular disease."

Congressman Gonzalez looks forward to the health advancements that this project will bring to South Texans and is proud to have a research-intensive institution located in the region.