Peter Snyder, MD, Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine and of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, has received a four-year, $650,000 VA Merit grant to study a link between diabetes and hypertension. Incidences of hypertension is found twice as often in people with diabetes than in the general population and dramatically increases the risk for cardiovascular complications. Dr. Snyder’s grant will further his research into the molecular mechanisms responsible for the connections between diabetes and hypertension.

Dr. Snyder elaborates:

Blood pressure is regulated in part through changes in renal sodium uptake, and previous work found that hyperglycemia increases sodium uptake by enhancing expression of the Epithelial Sodium Channel (ENaC). Our preliminary studies suggest that this occurs through O-GlcNAcylation of Nedd4-2, an E3 ubiquitin ligase that targets ENaC for endocytosis and degradation. In the work supported by this grant, we will investigate the mechanisms by which Nedd4-2 O-GlcNAcylation alters ENaC abundance, and the role that this plays in the link between diabetes and hypertension.

Dr. Snyder’s work outside the lab, as both the current UI Faculty Senate President and as Vice Chair for Faculty Advancement in the department, was recently praised by Dr. Abel in a Views from the Chair post. More recently, Dr. Snyder wrote a letter to the editor calling for continued commitment from the state legislature to sustain the research mission at the University of Iowa.