College receives grant to study effects of anesthesia on the heart
| Dr. Judy Kersten receives perfect score on research grant proposal from NIH
Aug. 15, 2008 College News - Judy Kersten, MD, Professor and Vice Chair of Anesthesiology at the Medical College, recently received an extremely rare perfect score of 1.0 on her research grant proposal submitted to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
She is investigating how diabetes impairs protective mechanisms in the heart that may be altered during anesthesia and surgery in patients with heart disease.
Dr. Kersten’s project is part of a joint program in the Department of Anesthesiology that will study the effects of inhaled anesthetic drugs to protect the heart against injury that results from inadequate blood flow or oxygen.
Research grant proposals are reviewed by a panel of experts at the NIH, and scientific merit is rated according to a scale ranging from 1.0 to 5.0, with 1.0 being the highest merit. The full program received an uncommonly high score of 1.2.
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Aug. 15, 2008 College News - The Medical College of Wisconsin has received a five-year, $9 million renewal program project grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study how inhaled anesthetic drugs impact the heart. Zeljko J. Bosnjak, PhD, Professor and Vice Chairman for Research of Anesthesiology and Professor of Physiology, is program director for this multi-department program project.
The researchers have long studied the effects of inhalational anesthetics on the heart, and more recently shown ways in which anesthetic drugs can protect the heart against injury that results from inadequate blood flow or oxygen.
The research team has led the field in defining the protective effects of inhaled anesthetics in the heart. In addition to Dr. Bosnjak, the team consists of David C. Warltier, MD, PhD, Chairman and Professor of Anesthesiology; and Judy Kersten, MD, Professor and Vice Chair of Anesthesiology.
The clinical significance of their research was quickly translated to clinical investigations demonstrating the ability of inhalational anesthetics to improve patient outcomes following surgery. This resulted in new practice guidelines established by the American Heart Association, which now contains recommendations for the use of inhalational anesthetics in surgical patients who are at risk of having a heart attack.
With the new grant, the researchers hope to identify the mechanisms by which anesthetics protect sensitive organs during surgical insult, such as blood flow interruption, low oxygen supply and other stressful events.
“Once we can understand this process, our ultimate goal is to precondition organs, especially sensitive ones such as the heart; kidney; and brain, using specific pharmacological means prior to surgery,” said Dr. Bosnjak.
This grant brings together three interrelated projects. Dr. Warltier will direct the first project. He will study how to protect the heart following a reduction of oxygen in the blood and subsequent reoxygenation.
• Dr. Bosnjak will also direct the second project. This project will study how inhaled anesthetics regulate the function of mitochondria, which generate energy in cells, and how they delay cell death. This is an end target in protecting the heart.
• Dr. Kersten will direct the third project. She received a perfect score from the National Institutes of Health on her grant submission (see side bar). This project will study how diabetes impairs protective mechanisms in the heart that may be altered during anesthesia and surgery in patients with heart disease.