[unreadable] The purpose of this COBRE supplement is to purchase new equipment to meet critical needs of project leaders and other researchers at the Cardiovascular Research Institute (CRI) in Sioux Falls where the COBRE research will be conducted. Projects 1 and 2 have aims that require the use of proteomics. At the present time, however, there is limited experience and no equipment for proteomics at the CRI. To meet this need, the CRI is recruiting Dr. Ben Perryman, a NIH-funded Professor from the University of Colorado, as a new faculty. Not only is Dr. Perryman a nationally recognized expert in proteomics but he is also a wellknown molecular biologist in the field of congestive heart failure. Since senior level mentoring in molecular biology was also an identified need in our original COBRE application, this recruitment will substantially strengthen our group from a leadership standpoint. We are requesting funds for a Maldi-tof mass spectrometer for proteomic analyses, an instrument that Dr. Perryman currently uses and supervises at UC. [unreadable] [unreadable] Echocardiography is used routinely by several members of the group to assess changes in cardiac dimensions in rats. Since our work focuses largely on ventricular remodeling, echo data have become a critical component of virtually all in vivo studies being conducted at the CRI including each COBRE project. Those projects and work by our new recruit, Ben Perryman, also require echo data from mouse transgenic models. Our current echo machine (on loan from Sioux Valley Hospital, SVH) is not capable of doing mouse echos and must soon be returned by SVH for a trade-in. Consequently, we will soon have no echo capabilities. Therefore, we are requesting a new echo with 8 and 12 MH transducers to enable measurements in both rats and mice. [unreadable] [unreadable] In addition to the recruitment of Dr. Perryman, we are in the final stages of recruiting one or two new junior faculty to the CRI. The COBRE grant will approximately double our group size by the end of the summer. SVH has offered us new space to enable this expansion. This space will be available by mid summer. In addition to the 2 major items indicated above, we are requesting other equipment to meet the needs of our expanding research group. We are excited that by the end of the first year of COBRE funding, our group should have the critical mass of quality scientists needed to submit a PPG proposal in the near future. [unreadable] [unreadable]