71-year-old heart study at Boston University gets $38 million grant for another 6 years

BOSTON -- The nation's longest-running multigenerational study of cardiovascular disease has received a $38 million grant that will help researchers explore the biology of aging.

The six-year grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to the Framingham Heart Study was announced Tuesday.

Boston University, which has administered the 71-year-old study since 1971, said in a statement the grant will be used to study liver fat, platelet function, arterial stiffness, the heart and great vessels and patterns of thousands of circulating blood proteins in the participants.

The funding also allows for continued maintenance of study operations and continued analysis of data.

The study, which dates to 1948, has been responsible for numerous breakthroughs, including smoking's contribution to heart disease risk, the benefit of physical activity and the risk posed by obesity.