A six-member group of biomedical scientists from Europe and the United States, including Eric Delpire, PhD, MS, professor of Anesthesiology, has been awarded a $6 million grant to study the role of dietary potassium in hypertension.

The five-year grant was awarded by the Paris-based Fondation LeDucq as part of its Transatlantic Networks of Excellence Program.

According to the foundation’s website, Delpire and his collaborators will use the funds to examine “how the kidney handles potassium, concentrating on the molecular, structural, and physiologic basis of the sodium-potassium pathway, as well as its genetic determinants. Ultimately they hope to find new therapeutic targets to control or even prevent hypertension.”

Long-term high blood pressure affects some 1 billion adults worldwide and is viewed by the World Health Organization as the world’s leading preventable cause of death.