October 12, 2009
Bob Schuck, PharmD, a graduate student at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received a $2,000 grant from the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute for research looking into the role of an enzyme in the development of cardiovascular disease.
The grant will support Schuck’s dissertation research study of the enzyme 5-lipoxygenase (ALOX5). ALOX5 synthesizes fatty molecules called leukotrienes, which promote inflammation. Genetic variation in ALOX5 has been associated with the development of cardiovascular disease, but the reason remains unclear. Schuck’s study will try to determine whether cardiovascular disease patients with a genetic variant in their ALOX5 have higher levels of leukotrienes and inflammatory markers.
“Ultimately this project could help identify patients who would benefit from therapies that decrease the production of leukotrienes,” says Schuck, who joined the School’s graduate program in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics in 2008 after earning his doctor of pharmacy from the University of Michigan..
The grant, titled “Functional Characterization of a 5-Lipoxygenase Polymorphism in Patients with Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease”, was one of four chosen for funding out of eleven applications. TraC$2K grants assist researchers in implementing a proposed study or move a research project forward by providing rapid access to funds that will support almost any aspect of promising and innovative research.
“We are grateful to the UNC TraCS Institute for their support of this pilot project,” says Craig Lee, PharmD, PhD, Schuck’s adviser. “Training the next generation of translational scientists is a core mission of both our graduate program in DPET and the UNC TraCS Institute.”
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