{"id":47706,"date":"2001-08-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-08-22T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2001\/08\/22\/unmc-to-lead-5-6-million-research-project-lookinginto-causes-of-congenital-heart-defects\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T10:51:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T15:51:41","slug":"unmc-to-lead-5-6-million-research-project-lookinginto-causes-of-congenital-heart-defects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2001\/08\/22\/unmc-to-lead-5-6-million-research-project-lookinginto-causes-of-congenital-heart-defects\/","title":{"rendered":"UNMC to Lead $5.6 Million Research Project Looking\n\nInto Causes of Congenital Heart Defects"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Nebraska Medical Center has received a five-year,<\/p>\n

$5.6-million federal grant to study the causes of congenital heart defects.<\/p>\n

The grant called a program project grant was awarded by the National<\/p>\n

Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, one of the institutes that comprise the<\/p>\n

National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Thomas Rosenquist, Ph.D.,<\/p>\n

interim vice chancellor for research at UNMC, is the principal investigator<\/p>\n

of the grant.<\/p>\n

Were optimistic that at the end of these five years, well be able<\/p>\n

to make some predictions about congenital defects, and with prediction,<\/p>\n

the possibility of prevention, said Dr. Rosenquist, who also is the vonHousen<\/p>\n

professor and chairman of the department of cell biology and anatomy at<\/p>\n

UNMC.<\/p>\n

Program project grants are significant because they typically are significantly<\/p>\n

larger than grants awarded to individual scientists, as they bring together<\/p>\n

groups of researchers who use different methods to study a highly specific,<\/p>\n

unified hypothesis. The grants are extremely competitive.<\/p>\n

During the duration of this five-year grant, three teams of scientists<\/p>\n

will investigate the way that selected genes may interact with certain<\/p>\n

drugs, environmental exposures and vitamin deficiencies to cause abnormal<\/p>\n

heart development.<\/p>\n

This is the first NIH-funded program project that will test a unifying<\/p>\n

hypothesis for this type of gene\/environment interaction. Our hypothesis<\/p>\n

is that these birth defects all have a common, fundamental cause, Dr.<\/p>\n

Rosenquist said. At present, it is impossible to predict the probability<\/p>\n

that birth defects will occur, based on genetic makeup or environmental<\/p>\n

exposures. Were hoping to find some answers, so that these birth defects<\/p>\n

can be prevented.<\/p>\n

The three groups of investigators will consist of Dr. Rosenquists team,<\/p>\n

which will utilize chicken embryos as their experimental model; a team<\/p>\n

that includes Richard Finnell, Ph.D., director of Texas A&M Universitys<\/p>\n

Institute of Biosciences and Technology, and Janee Gelineau-van Waes, DVM,<\/p>\n

Ph.D., UNMC assistant professor of cell biology and anatomy, which will<\/p>\n

study mice that have undergone genetic engineering to change their susceptibility<\/p>\n

to congenital defects; and a team led by Gary Shaw, Ph.D., and Ed Lammer,<\/p>\n

M.D., of the California Birth Defects Monitoring Project, which will study<\/p>\n

congenital heart defects in human babies and the relationship that those<\/p>\n

defects may have to the genetics and pre-natal behaviors of their mothers.<\/p>\n

For several years, research has shown that a moderate intake of folic<\/p>\n

acid during a mothers pregnancy decreases the risk of birth defects. In<\/p>\n

this study, Dr. Rosenquist said, investigators will look at the way folic<\/p>\n

acid helps prevent heart defects and how a deficiency of the vitamin may<\/p>\n

interact with drugs such as alcohol or certain kinds of cough medicine<\/p>\n

to increase the chances that a baby might have a heart defect.<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, Dr. Rosenquists laboratories have developed<\/p>\n

the idea that specific kinds of receptors in developing embryos may respond<\/p>\n

to a large array of environmental exposures that previously hadnt been<\/p>\n

recognized as having anything in common. Those may include a variety of<\/p>\n

recreational and therapeutic drugs, as well as environmental exposures<\/p>\n

including certain kinds of air and water pollution.<\/p>\n

Using this grant money, Dr. Shaw will take what has been learned in<\/p>\n

the animal labs of Dr. Rosenquist and Dr. Finnell and apply it to human<\/p>\n

mothers and babies. As well, hell seek other genes and environmental exposures<\/p>\n

that may be linked to increased probabilities of birth defects.<\/p>\n

Well go back and test our animal models if he finds something in the<\/p>\n

humans that might indicate a environment\/gene relationship that may cause<\/p>\n

a birth defect, Dr. Rosenquist said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Shaws project will be the largest study every undertaken to determine<\/p>\n

the relationship among heart defects, drugs, environmental exposures and<\/p>\n

vitamin deficiencies in human babies.<\/p>\n

Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect and are the<\/p>\n

top cause of death from birth defects during the first year of life, according<\/p>\n

to the American Heart Association. Out of 1,000 births, eight babies will<\/p>\n

have some form of congenital heart disorder. About 35,000 babies are born<\/p>\n

with a defect each year. Charges for care exceed $2.2 billion annually,<\/p>\n

for inpatient surgery alone.<\/p>\n

This research could mean a tremendous amount for a lot of families,<\/p>\n

both emotionally and financially, Dr. Rosenquist said. Were interested<\/p>\n

in finding answers that will help children be at their playful, spirited<\/p>\n

best.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Nebraska Medical Center has received a five-year, $5.6-million federal grant to study the causes of congenital heart defects. The grant called a program project grant was awarded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, one of the institutes that comprise the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Thomas Rosenquist, Ph.D., […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nUNMC to Lead $5.6 Million Research Project Looking Into Causes of Congenital Heart Defects<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The University of Nebraska Medical Center has received a five-year, $5.6-million federal grant to study the causes of congenital heart defects. 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