Levick awarded grant continuation for diabetes cardiac disease study

Scott Levick, associate professor in the West Virginia University School of Medicine Department of Physiology, Pharmacology and Toxicology, has received notification of continued funding for the research project “Substance P Metabolites and Receptors in the Pathogenesis of Cardiac Disease in Type 1 Diabetes.”

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, a part of the National Institutes of Health, awarded $714,948 for the 2026 fiscal year, which represents year three of the three-year grant totaling $2,153,284.

The project focuses on investigating the mechanisms that lead to fibrosis and vascular damage in type 1 diabetes patients and contribute to heart failure. Researchers are exploring how to activate the neurokinin 1 receptor, which regulates various heart functions, as a therapy for adverse changes in the type 1 diabetic heart.