AHA Awards Grant to UTEP Pharmacy Researchers

Last Updated on August 21, 2017 at 12:00 PM

Originally published August 21, 2017

By UC Staff

UTEP Communications

A new grant from the American Heart Association (AHA) will help UTEP researchers study new ways to battle cardiovascular disease, which remains the leading cause of death in the United States.

The researchers are, from left, Zubair A. Karim, Ph.D., research assistant professor; Fadi Khasawneh, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences; and Fatima Alshbool, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology. Photo: Laura Trejo/UTEP Communications

The AHA awarded Fadi Khasawneh, Ph.D., chair and associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, with a two-year, $154,000 grant to expand his research into a protein inside the blood cell platelets that could contribute to diseases such as strokes and heart attacks. These studies could lead to new therapies that could target that protein and counteract these diseases.

Khasawneh will use genetic models and human platelets as part of the research. His co-investigator will be Fatima Alshbool, Ph.D, assistant professor of pharmacology. They will be assisted by Zubair A. Karim, Ph.D., research assistant professor.

“Our work is expected to link the bench and bedside research,” Khasawneh said. “It may result in defining a new therapeutic target for managing certain forms of cardiovascular disease.”

The grant started in July 2017 and will finish at the end of June 2019.