Ryan Boudreau, UI assistant professor of internal medicine, has received a three-year, $438,657 Young Investigator award from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust to investigate regulatory mechanisms that control when and where proteins are made within heart cells.

The human genome encodes thousands of unique proteins needed for our cellular make-up and function. Each protein-coding gene is first transcribed into individual messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that are then precisely regulated to dictate when and where they are translated into proteins. This process is coordinated by a network of hundreds of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that recognize specific sequence codes within the mRNAs, creating a complex puzzle that remains largely unsolved.

Boudreau will combine high-throughput biochemical techniques and innovative computational approaches to study the intricacies of how cardiac cells regulate their mRNAs and how these processes are disrupted in heart disease.

The long-term goals of the research include identifying genetic risk factors that contribute to heart failure and assessing whether therapies that target RNA regulation pathways can be used to improve outcomes for patients with heart disease.

Boudreau is a member of the Francois M. Abboud Cardiovascular Research Center, the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center, and the Pappajohn Biomedical Institute at the UI.