Gourav Bhardwaj, MSc, PhD, research assistant professor in Endocrinology and Metabolism, received a three-year, $231,000 American Heart Association (AHA) Career Development Award (CDA) for the project titled: Role of FoxO3 in Ca2+ handling and diastolic dysfunction in diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Bhardwaj joined the department late last year. He received his PhD in Functional Genomics from the University of Greifswald in 2016 and completed his postdoctoral training in the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center, while investigating insulin action and FoxO signaling in the mitochondrial defects that occur in diabetic muscle.

He is continuing his research aimed at elucidating the role of FoxO3 in diabetic cardiomyopathy. Specifically, his lab seeks to identify how cardiac FoxO3 regulates SERCA phosphorylation and calcium handling in the heart in the context of Type 1 Diabetes.

Director of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism Ayotunde Dokun, MD, PhD, congratulated Bhardwaj on this award and said, “This work will provide insight into the molecular connections between FoxO3 activation in calcium cycling in diabetic heart and may lead to improved understanding or therapeutic targets for diastolic dysfunction and heart failure in patients with diabetes. I also applaud his mentors, Dr. Brian O’Neill and Dr. Long-Sheng Song.”