Yang Lab Receives First NIH R01 Award

We are excited to share that the Yang Lab has received its first NIH R01 award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)!

The five-year, approximately $3.8 million award will support our project, “Defining and Targeting DELE1-Mediated Mitochondrial Stress Response in Cardiomyopathy.”

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a major contributor to cardiovascular and heart disease, but how cells sense mitochondrial damage and translate it into adaptive or maladaptive stress responses remains incompletely understood. Our research will investigate the molecular mechanisms by which the mitochondrial stress sensor DELE1 activates cellular stress signaling in the heart and determine how this pathway contributes to cardiomyopathy.

Building on our structural and mechanistic studies of DELE1-mediated mitochondrial stress signaling, we will combine structural biology, biochemistry, cellular models, and cardiovascular disease models to define this pathway and explore new strategies for selectively targeting maladaptive mitochondrial stress responses.

This award represents the first federal research grant for our independent laboratory and provides stable, long-term support to pursue some of the questions in mitochondrial stress signaling and cardiovascular disease that we are most excited about.

We are deeply grateful to our collaborators, mentors, colleagues, trainees, the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and the University of Virginia School of Medicine for their tremendous support. Most importantly, congratulations and thanks to everyone in the Yang Lab whose hard work and creativity made this milestone possible!

We look forward to the exciting science ahead.