From bench to bedside: NIH grant establishes cardiac clinical research center at UofL

Public release date: 9-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jill Scoggins jill.scoggins@louisville.edu 502-852-7461 University of Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. To paraphrase Yogi Berra: It's dj vu all over again with a twist.

A University of Louisville researcher known for his prowess at winning competitive grants from the National Institutes of Health has won another one his first for clinical research.

During his 18-year tenure at UofL, Dr. Roberto Bolli has generated more than $100 million in grants for basic research from the NIH. Today, Bolli joined with University of Louisville President James R. Ramsey to announce a new NIH grant he has won for clinical research, a seven-year, $3.4 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to establish one of seven regional centers across the United States in the Cardiac Cell Therapy Research Network (CCTRN). The network conducts early clinical trials of adult stem cell therapies in patients with heart disease.

"Stem cell therapy holds great promise for treating heart disease, and researchers involved in CCTRN are helping determine how these promising therapies might be most beneficial to patients," said Dr. Sonia Skarlatos, deputy director of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences in the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. "This new round of funding is an important step in helping to improve cardiovascular health."

This move from basic to clinical research from "bench to bedside" in medical lingo will test the validity of new therapies by replicating studies in patients at two or more of the network's centers located at UofL, Stanford University, Texas Heart Institute, Minneapolis Heart Institute, University of Florida, University of Miami and Indiana University.

Replicating studies in several locations with a large number of patients is necessary for researchers to ultimately determine which ones can be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for approval.

"Through the work of Dr. Bolli and his team, the UofL Health Sciences Center continues to fulfill the promise of a great metropolitan research university," Ramsey said. "Success like Dr. Bolli's in conducting basic research lays the foundation for him to conduct clinical studies that will determine the standard of care for the future.

"Clinical trials of new adult stem cell therapies are among the most promising and exciting areas of medical research today, and being part of a national network such as the CCTRN means UofL can bring this cutting-edge medicine to the people of Kentucky and beyond."

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From bench to bedside: NIH grant establishes cardiac clinical research center at UofL