Cardiovascular Research Institute Pilot Awards

CVRI will not be offering Pilot Awards for FY26

FY13 Winners

• Irina Larina, Ph.D.; James Martin, M.D., Ph.D. – Biomechanical regulation of cardiogenesis by Pitx2.
• Jin Wang, Ph.D.; Thomas Cooper, M.D. – Antisense RNA delivery to heart for myotonic dystrophy.
• Kristy Murray, D.V.M, Ph.D.; Peter Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. – Cardiac manifestations of Chagas' disease in Trypanosoma cruzi positive blood donors.
• Shaine Morris, M.D., M.P.H.; Rajesh Krishnamurthy, M.D.– Validation of a new imaging biomarker to predict adverse cardiovascular events in connective tissue disorders.

FY14 Winners

• Daryl Scott, M.D., Ph.D.; Mary Dickinson, Ph.D– The Role of RERE in Cardiovascular Malformations and Cardiomyopathy.
• Judith Becker, M.D.; Carolyn Altman, M.D.— Maternal Hyperoxygenation in Fetal Left Heart Hypoplasia.
• Seema Lalani, M.D., Christina Miyake, M.S., M.D.— Discovering the Genetic Basis of Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.
• William Lagor, Ph.D., Christie Ballantyne, M.D.— Hyperlipidemia and monocyte Type I Interferon Signaling in Atherosclerosis.

FY15 Winners

• Marta Fiorotto, Ph.D.; George Rodney, Ph.D.— Developmental Programming of Adult Cardia Function by Neonatal Nutrition.
• Farrah Kheradmand, M.D.; Scott LeMaire, M.D.— Auto-reactive T Cells in Smokers with Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm and Dissection.
• Robia Paulter, Ph.D.; Jeff Jacot, Ph.D.— Using MRI to Measure Focal and Diffuse Fibrosis in Patched Cardiac Repair.
• Yong Xu, Ph.D., Anikumar Reddy, Ph.D.— Steroid Receptor Coactivator-1 and Blood Pressure in Females. 

FY16 Winners

• Ninghui Cheng, Ph.D., Na Li, Ph.D.— Role of Glutaredoxin 3 in Diabetic Cardiomyopathy
• Na Li, Ph.D., Tony Eissa, M.D.— NLRP3 Inflammasome and the Pathogenesis of Atrial Fibrillation
• Cory Noel, M.D.; Ramkumar Krishnamurthy, M.D.— Imaging Biomarkers of Early Cardiac Dysfunction Due to Anthracycline Exposure
• Zheng Sun, Ph.D., Feng Li Ph.D. — Myocardial Histone Deacetylase 3 in Diet-Induced Heart Failure.
• Nathan Sundgren, M.D., Ph.D.; Shiraz Maskatia, M.D.— Epigenomics in Infants of Diabetic Mothers with Subclinical Cardiac Disease
• Jun Wang, Ph.D.; Wei Li, Ph.D.— A miRNA-Hippo Pathway Plays and Cricital Role in CCS Homeostasis and Regeneration

FY17 Winners

• Ninghui Cheng, Ph.D.; George Rodney, Ph.D.— Role of Glutaredoxin3 in Cardiac Hypertrophy and Heart Failure.
• Lisa D’Alessandro, M.D.; James Lupski, Ph.D., M.D., DSc. — Molecular characterization of cardiac malformations in 17p11.2 duplication.
• Sean Hartig, Ph.D.; Na Li, Ph.D.— A microRNA axis in adipocytes that improves diabetic heart function.
• Christina Miyake, M.D.; James Lupski, Ph.D., M.D., DSc.— The discovery of novel genes in arrhythmic sudden death syndromes.

FY18 Winners 

• Huaizhu Wu, M.D.; Christie Ballantyne, M.D.— Imaging monocyte trafficking into atherosclerosis and adipose tissue in mice.
• Tony Eissa, M.D., Joseph Hyser, Ph.D.— Regulation in inflammasome activity by p38 MAPK’.
• Katarzyna Cieslik, Ph.D.; Robia Paulter, Ph.D — Trafficking leukocytes in the aging mouse heart; in vivo MRI and flow Cytometry study.
• Joshua Wythe, Ph.D.; William Lagor, Ph.D. – Promoting enhanced angiogenesis in post-stroke brain through modulation of notch signaling.

FY19 Winners

• Xinchun Pi, Ph.D; Lavannya Pandit, M.D.— Evaluating the role of BMPER in pulmonary hypertension.
• Zheng Sun, Ph.D.; Lilei Zhang, M.D., Ph.D. — Cardiac Circadian Clock and Obesity Paradox.
• Lilei Zhang, M.D.; Ph.D., Joel Neilson, Ph.D.— LncRNA Circa protects cardiac function via regulation of chromatin structure. 

 FY20 Winners

• Ravi Ghanta, M.D.; Omid Veiseh, Ph.D.— Immune Evasive Alginate Encapsulation for Sustained Cell Therapy for Heart Failure.
• Joshua Wythe, Ph.D.; Benjamin Deneen, Ph.D.— Targeting Endothelial Transcriptional Networks in GBM.
• Tyler Moran, M.D.; Ph.D., Christie Ballantyne, M.D.— Genetic and Proteomic Predictors of Cardiovascular Risk in Cancer Patients.

FY21 Winners

• Margaret Gooddell, Ph.D., James Martin, M.D., Ph.D.— DNMT3A in Heart Development and Clonal Hematopoiesis-Mediated Atherosclerosis.
• Na Li, Ph.D., Mihail Chelu, M.D., Ph.D.— Mechanisms of Lamin A/C-mediated Cardiac Conduction Disorders.

FY22 Winners

• Ketan Ghaghada, Ph.D., Ying Shen, M.D., Ph.D.— Lipid Nanoparticles for SMC Gene Silencing in Aortic Aneurysm and Dissection.
• Kathryn Jones, D.V.M., Ph.D., Vanaja Konduri, Ph.D.— Effect of Hookworm Derived Anti-Inflammatory Proteins on Chagas Myocarditis.
• Lilei Zhang, M.D., Ph.D.,Na Li, Ph.D.— Studying TANGO2 Arrhythmia Crises in iPSC-CM.

FY23 Winners

• Miao-Hsueh Chen, Ph.D., Hongjie Lie, Ph.D.— Lineage and Molecular Analyses of the Cardiac Origin of The Neck Brown Adipocytes.
• Margaret Goodell, Ph.D., Na Li, Ph.D.— Clonal Hematopoiesis Exacerbates the Development of Atrial Firbiliation.
• Kriti Puri, M.B.B.S., David Faraoni, M.D., Ph.D.— Iron Deficiency in Children with Single Ventricle or Cyanotic Heart Disease.
• Diwakar Turaga, M.D., Ph.D., James Martin, M.D., Ph.D.— Multiomics of Cardiac Immune Microenvironment in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.
• Joshua Wythe, Ph.D., Samuel McClugage, M.D.— Defining the Genetic Causes of Pediatric Brain Arteriovenous Malformations.

FY24 Winners

• Xander Wehrens, M.D., Ph.D., Hu Ying Shen, M.D., Ph.D.— Role of Infiltrating Macrophages in Post-Operative Atrial Fibrillation.
• Nandan Kumar Mondal, M.S., M.Phil., Ph.D., Carl Walther, M.D., M.S., — Untargeted Metabolomics of Urine Exosome and Kidney Dysfunction in LVAD Patients.
• Arash Pezhouman, M.D., Abul Hassan Samee, Ph.D.— A Comprehensive Approach to Safe & Efficient Cardiac Cell-Based Therapy.
• Ray Russell, PhD., Christopher Ward, Ph.D.— Biomarker Discovery for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Risk Factors, Intervention. 

FY25 Winners

• David Durgan, Ph.D., Mirjana Maletic-Savatic, M.D., Ph.D.— Deciphering Brain-Gut Signaling in Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Induced Hypertension.
• Satadru Lahriri, Ph.D., Pradip Kumar Saha, Ph.D.— Role of PH2 in Stabilizing Cardia CR-Mitochondria Contacts in Cardiomyopathy.
• Sara Stephens, Ph.D., Cameron Dezfulian, M.D.— Population-Based Predictive Models of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.
• Andrew Yee, Ph.D., Miguel Cruz, Ph.D.— Interplay between variants and Vimentin on von Willebrand factor adhesivity.