Holley Laboratory

The Mandel Center for Hypertension and Atherosclerosis at Duke University has awarded Dr. Holley $50,000 to study the regulation of oxidative stress by snoRNAs in hypertensive heart disease. Oxidative stress is known to play a strong role in several aspects of hypertensive heart disease, including hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy, and cardiac fibrosis. Dr. Holley and others have previously shown that certain snoRNAs have a critical role in the regulation of oxidative stress, so this project will investigate whether this role influences the aspects of hypertensive heart disease noted above. The study will be conducted using a mouse model of hypertension, and the grant funding includes support for the purchase of a device to measure blood pressures in mice using a “tail cuff”. In recognition of this support from the Mandel Center, the Holley laboratory will make the mouse blood pressure monitor available to other researchers in the Duke Cardiovascular Research Center, via the Duke Cardiovascular Physiology Core.