Reineke and Team Stalk No. 1 Cause of Death

An NIH grant awarded to assistant professor of chemistry, Theresa Reineke, represents not only a significant distinction for a scholar in the early stages of her career but also considerable promise for studying DNA therapeutics to treat heart disease.

Reineke received a $412,875 Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant from the National Institute of Bioimaging and Bioengineering at NIH for her proposal titled “Myocardial Gene Delivery with New Polymeric Agents.”

On learning of the award, she said, “I’m very excited and honored to receive this grant because it will enable my research group to explore and develop novel DNA drugs to treat the major cause of death in the United States.”

Reineke has developed a number of non-toxic methods to deliver DNA-based therapies to diseased cells, and the grant will support further research as she and her team study new medicines that can be used to treat and prevent a variety of ailments such as heart disease, myocardial infarction, and rejection of heart transplants.

Reineke added, “We are currently focused on the design of the polymer delivery vehicles that are needed to carry the new DNA therapeutics specifically to the site of disease. We are also exploring how well these new polymers deliver the DNA therapies in cultured heart cells, which are the first steps to develop of this new type of treatment.”

The Reineke research group is currently teamed with that of assistant professor W. Keith Jones in the department of pharmacology and cell biophysics. Jones’ team will head the animal studies of the new therapeutics.