Yury Bochkov, PhD, was recently awarded a $194,250 subaward through collaborators from The Rutgers State University, and supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI). Their five-year R56 project, titled “Mechanisms of Rhinovirus-induced airway hyperresponsiveness: an airway smooth muscle perspective,” will identify mechanisms underlying rhinovirus (RV)-induced alterations in airway relaxation that are VEGF-dependent, thereby identifying new targets for effective treatment of RV-induced exacerbations of airways diseases. Previous work demonstrated that RV-C exposure of airway epithelial cells induces specific soluble mediators, including VEGF165, and attenuates ?2 agonist-induced cAMP production and relaxation of airway smooth muscle.