UPenn picks up USD 1.1m NHLBI grant for CRISPR base-editing CVD program

The University of Pennsylvania's Kiran Musunuru has received an R35 award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute totaling USD 1,137,435 in first-year costs to advance a multi-indication CRISPR base-editing program targeting cardiovascular disease, with a project period running through January 2033.

The grant, issued under funding opportunity RFA-HL-26-002, supports translational research across three cardiovascular indications: atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease prevention via liver-directed multiplex editing of PCSK9 and ANGPTL3; inherited connective tissue disorders including pseudoxanthoma elasticum and Marfan syndrome; and congenital heart disease and inherited cardiomyopathies, the last of which incorporates a non-viral delivery approach to the myocardium.

The R35 mechanism, which NHLBI uses to provide stable, long-term support to investigators with records of research productivity, signals institutional confidence in Musunuru's lab as a platform for cardiovascular gene-editing therapeutics. The award's seven-year horizon reflects the extended timelines associated with translational genome-editing programs that span from delivery technology development through clinical application.

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