Adam Oskowitz, MD, PhD Awarded $400,000 R21 Trailblazer Award

Adam Oskowitz, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Vascular & Endovascular Surgery, has been awarded an R21 Trailblazer Award by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, a 3-year grant that supports high-risk, high-impact research. The goals for the research grant are to generate a Chimeric Antigen Receptor to direct T-regulatory cells to injured aortic tissue, and reduce the vascular inflammation that results in abdominal aortic aneurysm growth and rupture.

Dr. Oskowtiz noted the potential of the research for improving treatments:

Aortic aneurysms are a leading cause of death worldwide, for which surgery is the only treatment. We are developing a non-surgical therapy by reprogramming a patient’s own cells, directing them to sites of vascular injury and ultimately helping the body heal itself.

The current treatment paradigm for aortic aneurysms and other cardiovascular diseases is risk modification, to indirectly slow disease progression. When the disease becomes severe, surgery is needed. The novel therapeutic model we are investigating would directly modulate disease progression and could lead to a paradigm shift in treating aneurysms and other cardiovascular diseases.

Qizhi Tang, PhD, professor of surgery in the Division of Transplant Surgery and director of the UCSF Transplantation Research Lab, is a co-investigator on this research.