Old Westbury, NY – The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $431,700 grant to NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine Associate Professor Qiangrong Liang, Ph.D., for his research into the beneficial effects of reduced caloric intake on heart function.

Liang, an expert in cellular protective processes and heart disease, will use the three-year grant to study how caloric reduction provides special protection for the heart. Specifically, Liang will research the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms that trigger beneficial cardiac effects when caloric intake is reduced.

"We're looking at a special signaling pathway in the heart that affects the function of heart cells," said Liang, referring to what is known as the AMP-activated protein kinase pathway or AMPK. The pathway is an "energy sensor" that plays a role in protecting the heart.

The funding is the third NIH grant awarded to College of Osteopathic Medicine researchers. Two years ago, the NIH awarded $486,000 to a team led by Kurt Amsler, Ph.D. to study cellular mechanisms involved in kidney injury. Another researcher, Alexsandr Vasilyev, Ph.D., is using NIH funds to study a different aspect of kidney repair.

Using animal models, Liang and a research team of NYIT medical and undergraduate students will reduce food intake and induce cardiac dysfunction. Then, they will study cardiac muscle cells to track the process of heart repair.

"We will try to determine if caloric restrictions increase the resistance of the heart to stressors that cause cardiac damage," said Liang. "We will determine if this protection is mediated through the AMPK pathway."

Liang said previous research has shown that protective mechanisms help mitochondria, the so-called "power plant" of cells. When mitochondria are injured, they produce harmful free radicals that contribute to cardiac failure. Reducing caloric intake can activate certain protective mechanisms that remove the injured mitochondria, although the process has not been studied at length.

"This research will help us understand the disease process and potential protective mechanisms," said Liang, "so that we may design drugs that could mimic the cardio-protective effects of reduced caloric intake."

Liang's newest research builds on a study he published in the journal PLOS ONE last year.

"Obesity is an epidemic," he said. "In the United States, half of the population is considered overweight and obesity is a risk factor for so many different diseases that have huge costs. Our research may produce useful results that may help fight obesity-related heart disease as well"

Liang joined NYIT in 2013 and works in the College of Osteopathic Medicine's Department of Biomedical Sciences. His studies have been published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and the Journal of Molecular Cell Cardiology. In July, he presented research on mitochondrial dysfunction and diabetic heart disease at the International Academy of Cardiology's 19th World Congress on Heart Disease.

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