Dr. Kurakula will use this grant to study the role of a novel target protein in pulmonary arterial hypertension and will test newly identified small molecule inhibitors using unique patient derived cells and animal models.
Konda Babu Kurakula from the lab of cardiovascular cell biology group, headed by Prof. Marie Jose Goumans, focusses on the unravelling the molecular mechanisms in pulmonary vascular remodelling in pulmonary arterial hypertension. He aims to identify and characterize several druggable targets that play crucial role in the pulmonary vascular remodeling and trying to translate these findings to the clinic. Based on his recent findings, two PAH clinical trials have been initiated at AUMC (location VUmc), Amsterdam, the Netherlands and at Laval University, Canada.