UAMS receives $3.6 million to study diabetes, cardiovascular disease

Yunmeng Liu, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has received a $3.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Liu’s laboratory will investigate how metabolic abnormalities of immune cells during diabetes contribute to the development of high blood pressure and damage the heart and kidneys. She plans to understand why diabetes promotes cardiovascular disease and renal injury, which often occur as co-morbidities in diabetic patients.

The long-term goal of her project is to identify innovative therapeutic strategies that target immune-metabolic pathways to prevent or treat both diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The five-year grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases, which is part of the NIH, provides about $3.6 million in total funding to support Liu’s innovative research program. She called it “a significant milestone for our lab.”

Dr. Steven Webber, dean of the UAMS College of Medicine, said Liu’s funding proposal, entitled “Metabolic Rewiring of T Cells Bridges Diabetes to Hypertension,” received an exceptional impact score that “reflects the scientific rigor, originality, and translational significance of her work, and signals her growing national recognition as an independent investigator in the field of cardiometabolic immunity.”

The award, which will be distributed in annual increments of about $717,000, builds on Liu’s extensive prior contributions to immune and cardiovascular research, and “positions Liu’s laboratory to make important advancements at the intersection of metabolism, immunity, and organ injury,” said Nancy Rusch, Ph.D., department chair. “Her work complements and strengthens UAMS’ expanding portfolio in cardiometabolic research, further enhancing the institution’s leadership in this critical area of public health.”

“This award marks an important step forward in Dr. Liu’s independent research career and underscores the department’s growing strength in cardiometabolic science,” Webber said. “This is a remarkable achievement that promises to drive meaningful advances in our understanding and treatment of diabetes-related cardiovascular and kidney disease.”