Team from Mayo Clinic Florida receives first Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Research Center Team Science Award

The Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Research Center announces the first recipient of its newly established Team Science Award. The team, from Mayo Clinic in Florida, is led by:

Nadine Norton, Ph.D. (CB ’12), Department of Cancer Biology, assistant professor of cancer biology

The team also includes:

Carolyn Landolfo, M.D. (CV ’08), Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, assistant professor of medicine

DeLisa Fairweather, Ph.D. (CV ’15), Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, associate professor of medicine

The two-year award will study “Transient Receptor Potential Cation (TRPC) Channels in Development of Heart Failure. The team’s goal is to better understand which breast cancer patients are at heightened risk for developing congestive heart failure. The team will examine rare genetic variants in the calcium channel gene, TRPC6, a potential culprit in the occurrence of heart failure after chemotherapy. The first steps of the Team Science project will use clinical data from patients to refine the TRPC6 risk phenotype. The research plan also will examine samples in the Mayo Clinic Biobank to establish an overlap between heart failure and specific cancer drugs in patients who carry the putative risk variants at TRPC6 and other genes associated with chemotherapy-related heart failure. The team will use mouse models to understand the specific cardiovascular effects of chemotherapy that are mediated through TRPC6 and how they can be prevented. Based on the research findings in these initial investigations, the team will meet to determine the best direction for translation to the clinic.

The Cardiovascular Research Center Team Science Award funds the first stage of clinical-basic science investigations with translational potential, aiming to drive innovation and establish unprecedented research collaborations. The projects require at least two co-principal investigators: one clinician from the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases and one basic scientist with expertise that can be applied to the biology of cardiovascular disease.