Reperfusion injury is a major mechanism for cardiac injury during heart attacks and thus far has no approved clinical treatment. We have discovered a new molecular target for preventing reperfusion injury and validated it using a novel genetic mouse model. We have identified a protein that regulates the target and are in the process of developing a short peptide that will mimic this protein's mechanism of action and can be used as a therapeutic. We will use up to 300K for preclinical studies of the peptide drug in cell culture, mouse, and porcine models.