Tulane Gets $1.1M To Study How Age Affects Blood Vessels

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Tulane University researchers will get $1.1 million over four years to study why aging impairs the growth of new blood vessels.

         The National Institutes of Health is giving the grant to Walter Lee Murfee, an associate professor of biomedical engineering, and Bruce Bunnell, director of the Tulane Center for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine.

         Murfee said in a news release Thursday that they hope to identify molecular and cellular causes of the change.

         Blocking growth of new blood vessels could help treatment of many age-related diseases, such as cancer, eye diseases and rheumatoid arthritis. But increasing such growth could help treat others, such as heart disease, stroke and hypertension.