Husker research team earns grant to improve nitric oxide sensors

From the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Office of Research & Economic Development

A University of Nebraska–Lincoln research team led by Nicole Iverson has earned a $1.77 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to make nitric oxide sensors easy to use and to utilize them to study both healthy and diseased cells.

Nitric oxide is an important molecule in living systems, but relatively little is known about it. Scientists have discovered that when a patient is having a heart attack, giving them a pill that releases nitric oxide opens their blood vessels and helps with their symptoms. Nitric oxide is also involved in inflammatory reactions — everything from a cut finger to cancer.