# Impacts of sarcomeric protein phosphorylation on ischemic hearts

> **NIH NIH SC2** · MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $151,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Each year in the U.S., approximately 2 million people experienced myocardial ischemia (inadequate blood
supply to heart muscle). Ischemic heart disease is a common cause of heart failure. Currently, about 1.6
million post-ischemia survivors live with ischemic heart failure, a deadly condition without effective treatment.
The main function of the heart is to pump out blood to supply the body with nutrients and oxygen. Sarcomeric
proteins make up the molecular motor of the heart muscle, which are essential for heart function. Modifications
on sarcomeric proteins play a central role in regulating heart function in various physiological and diseased
conditions. The long-term goal of our lab is to understand how modifications on sarcomeric proteins affect
heart function in ischemia and the consequent ischemic heart failure. The effort will lead to potential new
therapeutic strategies or biomarkers for the deadly heart diseases. The present proposal focuses on one of the
key sarcomeric protein regulators, called cardiac troponin I (cTnI). Recently, we have found that its
modifications are significantly altered in the patients with ischemic heart failure as well as the heart failure
resulting from genetic heart muscle diseases. The preliminary study has shown that one crucial cTnI
modification site protects heart from ischemia-related injury and is kept at a high level of modification in the
consequent ischemic heart failure. The proposed study will address the question: how the cTnI modification
protects heart function from ischemia-related injury. There are two specific aims: 1) to investigate the
molecular and cellular cardioprotective mechanism conveyed by the cTnI modification; 2) to test whether the
protective function is unique to the proposed site.
The proposed project has broad impacts; it will not only produce knowledge about heart function regulation
and ischemic heart disease but also help the principal investigator build strong research program at Morgan
State University, a prestigious member of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, in order to promote the
workforce diversity in biomedical field and health care.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9984491
- **Project number:** 5SC2GM131969-02
- **Recipient organization:** MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Yuejin Li
- **Activity code:** SC2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $151,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9984491

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9984491, Impacts of sarcomeric protein phosphorylation on ischemic hearts (5SC2GM131969-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9984491. Licensed CC0.

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