Congenital Heart Disease Research Earns Support Five New Grants Awarded

Baylor College of Medicine researchers will accelerate their comprehensive study of congenital heart disease through several recently awarded grants, totaling $10.8 million.

Dr. Jeffrey A. Towbin, professor of pediatrics and molecular and human genetics, leads the research efforts.

Five grants have been awarded to the Baylor team, including an $8.5 million Program Project grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The NIH grant, which includes four separate projects, all to be completed at Baylor and overseen by Dr. Towbin, will provide funding for the study of the development of congenital heart disease from the embryo through childhood.

The four projects will be led by Drs. Robert Schwartz, professor of cell biology; John Belmont, associate professor of molecular and human genetics; and Antonio Baldini, associate professor of pediatrics, in addition to Dr. Towbin.

In addition, the NIH has awarded Dr. Towbin, who also serves as associate chief of pediatric cardiology at Texas Children’s Hospital, a $2 million grant to study right ventricular cardiomyopathy. The study is part of a cluster grant, in which three institutions are working on three different aspects of this heart muscle disorder associated with problems of heart rhythm. The other institutions are the University of Rochester and the University of Arizona.

Other grants secured by Dr. Towbin include a $283,000 grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association to study the cytoskeleton in cardiomyopathies and muscular dystrophies, a $40,000 grant from the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation to study end-stage cardiomyopathies, and a $30,000 grant from the Baylor Basic/Clinical Collaborative Research Program to study the role of genetics in restrictive cardiomyopathy.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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