Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Many diseases result in changes leading to the dysfunction of arteries, particularly through increasing the contraction of the smooth muscle which lines them. One common disease which functions in this manner is essential hypertension, or chronic high blood pressure. This condition dramatically increases the contractility of the blood vessel and is associated with compromised health and increased overall mortality. With this project, we are investigating the translational potential for a new drug, which inhibits a critical contributor to increased contractility in the smooth muscle of the arteries (zipper-interacting protein Kinase/ZIPK). Current research conducted by our group and others suggests that ZIPK signalling is heightened in hypertensive blood vessels. This suggests ZIPK is an excellent target for therapeutic interventions aimed at reversing the effects of vascular diseases. We have developed and characterized the effects of a novel drug in the laboratory environment and will be moving to evaluate its effects in animal models of hypertension. In addition, preliminary studies conducted on isolated human cerebral blood vessels have demonstrated a role for ZIPK in human vascular physiology and experiments the inhibitor have shown promising results. In summary, this project aims to further characterize the role of ZIPK signalling in vascular disease as well as develop a new therapeutic to introduce to the clinical arena.