Arul Mani, PhD, research assistant professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, received a three-year, $231,000 career development award from the American Heart Association (AHA) for his project, microRNA-6236 regulation of post-ischemic skeletal muscle angiogenesis. 

Mani’s research interest is in peripheral artery disease (PAD), a narrowing of vessels that carry blood from the heart to the legs, largely due to buildup of fatty deposits in blood vessels. This generally causes painful muscle cramping in the thighs or calves for people living with PAD, specifically when they are walking. The pain subsides when they stop walking. 

Current treatments for PAD focus on reducing the risk of fatty deposit buildup. Because working muscles need more blood supply than when the muscles are at rest, Mani’s project will instead study the impact of improved blood supply in affected tissue, using microRNA based therapeutic strategies to induce the formation of new blood vessels from existing blood vessels, a process known as angiogenesis. 

“Little is known about the role microRNA-6236 in general and its role in post-ischemic angiogenesis has not been studied,” Mani said. “We have shown that miR-6236 play an important role in post-ischemic angiogenesis in mouse endothelial cells.”

Human and mouse endothelial cells, and mice models, will be employed to study the role of miR-6236 in post-ischemic skeletal muscle angiogenesis. 

“I would like to thank my mentor, Dr. Ayotunde Dokun, for providing an excellent research environment with great mentorship which helped me to achieve this AHA Career Development Award,” Mani said. “I would also like to thank my secondary mentor Dr. Nikhlesh Singh from Wayne State University for his guidance and support. Last but not least, I would like to thank all my colleagues for their help and support to attain this AHA Career Development Award.”