New Orleans, LA – Huijing Xia, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Pharmacology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has been selected by the American Physiological Society (APS) to receive the APS Postdoctoral Fellowship in Physiological Genomics. The two-year fellowship is awarded through a highly competitive process. Typically only two are awarded nationally each year.
This fellowship was established in recognition of the fact that many advances in genomics ultimately require a functional understanding in the context of the organism, and special training is needed to conduct this type of research.
The award funds cover a two-year period and include an annual stipend for the first year of $37,000, plus a trainee allowance of $3,500; and a second-year stipend of $39,000, plus a trainee allowance of $3,500.
Dr. Xia works in the lab of Eric Lazartigues, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, who was awarded this same fellowship in 2003.
Research in the Lazartigues lab has identified ACE2, an enzyme in the brain that plays a critically important role in the central regulation of blood pressure and confirmed its potential as a target for the treatment of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases.
LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans educates the majority of Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's academic health leader, LSUHSC comprises a School of Medicine, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, Schools of Allied Health Professions and Graduate Studies, as well as the only School of Nursing in Louisiana within an academic health center. LSUHSC faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout Louisiana. In the vanguard of biosciences research in a number of areas worldwide, LSUHSC faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, treat, or cure disease. LSUHSC outreach programs span the state.