The John A. Burns School of Medicine is getting $11.5 million of start-up money for a new cardiovascular research program that will help attract and retain high-level scientific researchers while gaining greater insight into how the heart functions.

The school said the seed money from the National Institutes of Health will help establish a Center for Biomedical Research Excellence within the its Center for Cardiovascular Research. The five-year grant includes support for core resources and young investigators to help them become independent scientists.

"A critical mass of independent investigators at the medical school will provide huge benefits to the state, including biotech jobs, external grant support, better trained students, and most importantly, new insight into the causes and treatment of the cardiovascular diseases that affect our population," said Dr. Ralph Shohet, who will led the research program.

Shohet joined the school last year from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and is recruiting scientists elsewhere to serve as external advisers and mentors for the new center's investigators.

The funding began June 1. Initial projects include how blood vessels respond to diabetes, the role of selenium in the heart, how heart cells die and how a scar forms after a heart attack.