NHLBI Awards $2.5 Million to Current NBF Grant Recipient to Study HSC Function

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recently awarded $2.5 million to Larry L. Luchsinger, PhD, to complete a five-year research project entitled “Hormetric ER stress Regulation of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Function.” Luchsinger is vice president and director of Research Operations at New York Blood Center’s Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute and a 2020 recipient of a National Blood Foundation (NBF) early-career Scientific Research Grant. 

Luchsinger’s past research has implicated a role for lower calcium levels induced by cellular stress in the maintenance of functionally potent hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). The NHLBI funding will support proposed studies that seek to identify the molecular programs and networks responsible for reducing calcium levels required for HSC potency, which may lead to a better understanding of why HSC function deteriorates with age. Luchsinger also seeks to develop strategies to improve HSC expansion for clinical applications, such as modulating the extracellular calcium environment.

NBF Early-Career Scientific Research Grants Invest in the Next Generation of Investigators  

For almost four decades, NBF early-career Scientific Research Grants – awarded to more than 200 early-stage investigators in total – have provided critical financial investment in promising researchers whose careers are just taking shape. Many of today’s leading experts in transfusion medicine and biotherapies are NBF alumni. 

The blood community’s continued support of the NBF grants program may unlock future breakthroughs in hematology, gene therapy, biotherapies, neurology, patient blood management and more. AABB encourages readers to make a gift today to advance promising research from the next generation of investigators.