High Cholesterol

Siddhartha Jena

My interest in cardiovascular health stems from a range of factors. There is currently a health epidemic in the United States: our largely unhealthy lifestyles, fatty and high-cholesterol diet, and lacking exercise, combine with genetic factors, contribute to some of the highest levels of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. In fact heart disease is prevalent in most developed and some developing countries, contributing to more deaths then cancer and HIV combined, worldwide. Heart disease causes are often misleading; for instance, obesity has been linked to heart disease for decades, yet many who suffer from cardiovascular ailments are slim and hardly fit this profile. In the past several decades, elevated blood cholesterol das been linked to heart disease. Though cholesterol is essential for numerous physiological functions, it is well documented that the long-term effects of elevated levels of plasma cholesterol pose a significant health risk and is causal to diseases including angina, cardiovascular disorders, and diabetes. However, the short-term effect of elevated plasma cholesterol was unknown, and this is what I set out to determine . . . My project was unique due to several reasons. First of all, the study was the first that set out to determine the role of elevated cell plasma membrane cholesterol on water and gas transport into the red blood cell. Second, the study was designed to determine the molecular underpinnings of the impairments of elevated plasma membrane cholesterol, and furthermore, new and novel approaches were used to conduct the study.