The National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health recently awarded a new grant to Ulka Sachdev-Ost, MD. In the four-year project, “Mechanisms of HMGB1 Release from lschemic Muscle in Peripheral Arterial Disease, Dr. Sachdev and her colleagues plan to investigate the regulation and expression of HMGB1, a nuclear protein and danger signal, in limb ischemia. The study is relevant for a large portion of the population that suffers from peripheral arterial disease, or PAD. Patients with severe PAD are at risk for limb loss if procedures to improve blood flow cannot be performed. Dr. Sachdev’s project aims to elucidate a mechanism by which danger signals like HMGB1 can promote local regeneration of ischemic muscle.