Dr. Yiliang Chen Receives AHW Seed Grant to Support Cardiovascular Disease Research

Dr. Yiliang Chen, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Endocrinology and Molecular Medicine, has been awarded an MCW-Led Seed Grant from the Advancing A Healthier Wisconsin Endowment to support his research project "Macrophage Mitochondrial ROS Disrupt Cholesterol Metabolism During Atherosclerosis". Dr. Chen also has a secondary appointment in the Department of Biochemistry.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is often simply called heart disease, is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States and Wisconsin State. Most CVD cases leading to heart attack and stroke are known to be caused by atherosclerosis, a pathological condition that lipid-loaded substances called plaques build up in our artery walls.

The goal of this project is to define a novel molecular mechanism leading to atherosclerosis, which will provide new therapeutic strategies against atherosclerosis.