The capital of the Shang dynasty (1523-1027 BC) was Anyang, a city in what is now Henan Province in China. The Shang were the first people in China to keep written records, so they’re credited with the invention of writing in that part of the world. We may never know what led the Shang to invent writing, but we do know why Lijun Wu, who was born and raised in Anyang, is trying to invent new therapies for atherosclerosis, one of the leading causes of death in developed countries.
“Lowering lipids with statins is very effective in reducing risk, but many people still have coronary heart disease despite having normal lipid levels,” said Lijun. She believes that elucidating the role of inflammation in atherosclerosis holds the key to discovering drugs that might stop and reverse the growth of cholesterol-laden plaques that are characteristic of the disease. Her challenge is to discover and develop anti-atherosclerosis drugs that suppress the inflammation process and to demonstrate, with proof-of-concept (PoC) studies, that these drugs will work in man.
According to Lijun, “Because some targets and pathways are shared between atherosclerosis and other inflammatory diseases, there are a lot of synergies with other groups at NIBR.” She is collaborating with the Autoimmunity and Transplantation, Functional Genomics, Molecular Pathways, Biomarker Development, and Models of Disease groups, and the Lead Discovery Center. “Having all this expertise in one company and available to assist my group in our work was one of the reasons I came to NIBR,” said Lijun. Like her ancestors, the Shang, who accepted the challenge of developing a new way to communicate, Lijun has accepted the challenge of finding new drugs to treat atherosclerosis. With the experts and resources available at NIBR, the odds of success are with her.
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