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SALT LAKE CITY鈥擜 pioneering model that a University of Utah cardiologist proposes as a cause of heart disease is the kind of creative thinking the National Institutes of Health (NIH) likes to see鈥攁nd reward with one of its most prestigious honors,wholesale jerseys china, a $2.5 million 2009 Pioneer Award.Ivor J. Benjamin, M.D., professor of internal medicine and biochemistry and the Christi T. Smith Endowed Chair of Cardiovascular Research at the U of U School of Medicine,cheap nfl jerseys online, believes that one of the body鈥檚 most powerful antioxidants鈥攎olecules generally believed to protect the heart鈥攁ctually might lead to disease in the heart and other organs when a gene mutation causes the body to overproduce the molecule.Dr Benjamin was born and grew up in Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara. He was schooled at Central High School in Smyth Street Georgetown, as did his sister Edris.His theory, which stirred some controversy when Benjamin presented it in a 2007 study in the journal Cell, represents a paradigm shift in understanding the causes of heart disease.But with the conviction that new and unconventional ideas propel science forward, and after a highly competitive and critical review process, the NIH chose Benjamin to further investigate the idea as one of only 18 researchers to receive a Pioneer Award.NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., presented Benjamin and the other recipients their awards in a ceremony at the agency鈥檚 headquarters in Bethesda, Md.Benjamin is receiving $500,000 annually for five years to pursue his research. Much of the Pioneer Award programme鈥檚 appeals is that it encourages researchers to think outside the box while receiving substantial funds to test their ideas, according to Collins.鈥淭he fact that we continue to receive such strong proposals for funding through the program attests to the wealth of creative ideas in so many fields of science today,鈥� he said.The Pioneer Awards are part of a larger programme of 115 grants intended to foster innovative and potentially transformative medical research. The NIH awarded a total of $13.5 million to this year鈥檚 Pioneer Award winners.An estimated 3 million Americans suffer from heart failure,wholesale jerseys, with 500,000 new cases diagnosed annually. Disease that leads to heart failure long has been associated with oxidative stress,wholeslae cheap nfl jerseys china, the process in which the body produces 鈥渇ree radical鈥� molecules in response to oxygen intake.Once they鈥檙e produced, free radicals roam the body, creating chemical reactions that damage organs and other tissue.To protect cells from free radicals, the body makes antioxidants. Benjamin鈥檚 work focuses on a particular antioxidant, reduced glutathione, which is produced when a protein called alpha B-Crystallin unfolds inside of cells.When mutated versions of the human gene that makes alpha B-Crystallin were placed in mice, however,cheap jerseys nfl wholesale, certain metabolic pathways were improperly activated, which led to excessive production of reduced glutathione and heart damage in the animals. Benjamin terms this condition 鈥渞eductive stress.鈥漊ntil recently, reductive stress hasn鈥檛 been looked at in the context of disease. But Benjamin showed that mice with too much reduced glutathione had increased heart failure rates,jerseys nfl wholesale, while those with normal levels of the antioxidant did not develop heart failure.Given the role of antioxidants, the theory is counterintuitive, Benjamin acknowledges. But if he鈥檚 correct, it could lead to developing an entirely new class of 鈥渁ntireductant鈥� drugs to treat or even prevent heart disease caused by reductive stress.鈥淥ur findings show that the potential for reductive stress causing heart disease definitely warrants more investigation,cheap nfl jerseys china,鈥� Benjamin says. 鈥淭he Pioneer Award will enable us the freedom to investigate the consequences and mechanisms of reductive stress and, hopefully,cheap nfl jerseys, do the kind of work that can be transformative.鈥滲enjamin鈥檚 research represents the kind of imaginative and searching science that the U of U values in its faculty, according to Lorris Betz, M.D., Ph.D., University of Utah senior vice president for health sciences. 鈥淎s a research university, we want our investigators to expand the bounds of science, even when that means questioning or contradicting conventional theories and wisdom,鈥� Betz says.鈥淚vor Benjamin does just that. On behalf of the entire University of Utah health sciences community, I congratulate and applaud Dr. Benjamin for being recognized with this tremendous honor.鈥滱lthough the Pioneer Award is in his name, Benjamin is quick to credit his laboratory team and colleagues with making the award possible. 鈥淚 am honored and humbled to have been chosen for the award,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut the real story is my multidisciplinary team. They deserve a lot of credit, too.鈥�