Understanding how fat around blood vessels affects heart and metabolic health
Official title: Regulation of arterial phenotype by perivascular adipose tissue in cardiometabolic disease
Funded at Mainehealth · NIH-11128673 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This work explores how the fat surrounding our blood vessels influences heart and metabolic conditions, aiming to find new ways to protect against vascular disease.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Mainehealth NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Portland, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2018 |
| Project end | June 30, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $573,610 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL141149-08 |
| Project ID | NIH-11128673 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Patients with obesity, metabolic disease, or cardiovascular disease may eventually benefit from the insights gained from this foundational research.
✕Less likely to help
Patients whose conditions are unrelated to cardiometabolic disease or vascular pathology may not directly benefit from this specific line of research.
What this research studies
We know that obesity and metabolic diseases increase the risk of heart and blood vessel problems. This project looks closely at the special fat tissue that wraps around blood vessels, called perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT). We are trying to understand how this fat tissue works differently in healthy people compared to those with vascular disease. Specifically, we are interested in whether this fat can burn calories, a process called thermogenesis, and how that might protect our blood vessels. By uncovering these molecular details in human PVAT, we hope to find new strategies to improve vascular health.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this research could lead to new treatments that target perivascular fat to prevent or slow down the progression of heart and blood vessel diseases related to obesity and metabolic conditions.
How similar studies have gone: The idea of increasing thermogenic fat to combat obesity is being explored, and this work builds on initial findings that human PVAT shows molecular differences in disease.
Where this research is happening
-
Mainehealth
Portland, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Liaw, Lucy — Mainehealth
- Study coordinator: Liaw, Lucy
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.