NEW $3.1M NIH GRANT FOR UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON TO STUDY HOW 'SPONGY HEART' DISEASE DEVELOPS - AND WHETHER IT CAN BE STOPPED

HOUSTON, Sept. 28 -- The University of Houston issued the following news release:

Award Brings Professor's Cumulative NIH Funding to Nearly $8M, Underscoring Sustained Research Into Causes of the Pediatric Heart Disease

By Laurie Fickman - [phone]

Spongy heart disease, the third-most prevalent pediatric heart disease, develops when the heart's left ventricle develops improperly, becoming spongy and thick rather than smooth and firm. Photo courtesy GETTY Images

Mingfu Wu, professor of pharmacology at the University of Houston, has received a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how left ventricular noncompaction, commonly known as "spongy heart," disease develops in children. The serious condition ca...