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December 8, 2011

Funds pledged to vascular institute

Pitt’s Vascular Medicine Institute (VMI) has received a new commitment of up to $7.5 million from the Blood Science Foundation and the Institute for Transfusion Medicine (ITxM), as well as an additional commitment of up to $7.5 million in a phased, five-year renewal from The Hemophilia Center of Western Pennsylvania (HCWP).

Prior commitments of $7.5 million each from ITxM and HCWP supported the establishment of VMI in 2008 and have fostered its development as a leader in vascular biology research.

VMI researchers, who include faculty from the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine and the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, conduct bench-to-bedside efforts in vascular biology, such as finding diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for pulmonary hypertension, which is a high blood pressure condition of the lungs, and uncovering the pathways for red blood cell destruction in sickle cell anemia.

VMI includes the Pulmonary Hypertension Research Center, which was developed to provide clinical and basic research to advance treatments for patients with cardiopulmonary problems due to conditions such as interstitial lung disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and the Vascular Clinical and Translational Research Center, home to technologies for the assessment of lung function, blood flow and other vascular measures for patients in clinical studies.

Filed under: Feature,Volume 44 Issue 8

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