Improving CPR: MCW Part of Collaborative Team to Develop New Life-Saving Strategies
Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) are co-recipients of a five-year, $5.4 million NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award to investigate new strategies to minimize cardiac and neurologic injury after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Demetris Yannopoulos, M.D., associate professor of cardiology at the University of Minnesota, is the primary investigator of the grant.
Matthias Riess, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of anesthesiology and physiology; Tom P. Aufderheide, M.D., professor of emergency medicine; and Martin Bienengraeber, Ph.D., associate professor of anesthesiology, pharmacology and toxicology at MCW; are co-investigators.
Surviving cardiac arrest with normal cardiac and neurological function is rare. One of the reasons is reperfusion injury, which occurs when blood supply returns to the heart and brain after being deprived of oxygen.
In this multi-disciplinary, translational project, the collaborative team will implement novel reperfusion injury protection strategies in cardiac arrest, investigating basic science mechanisms, animal model outcomes, and application in humans. Pilot data demonstrates significant potential to improve neurologically functional survival after cardiac arrest.
This multi-institutional project also includes researchers from the University of Michigan.
The NIH Director’s Transformative Research Awards program, established in 2009, promotes cross-cutting, interdisciplinary approaches and is open to individuals and teams of investigators who propose research that has the potential to create or overturn fundamental paradigms.
About the Medical College of Wisconsin
The Medical College of Wisconsin is the state’s only private medical school and health sciences graduate school. Founded in 1893, it is dedicated to leadership and excellence in education, patient care, research and community engagement. More than 1,200 students are enrolled in the Medical College’s medical school and graduate school programs. A major national research center, it is the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metro area and second largest in Wisconsin. In FY 2011 – 12, faculty received more than $166 million in external support for research, teaching, training and related purposes, of which more than $152 million is for research. This total includes highly competitive research and training awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Annually, College faculty direct or collaborate on more than 2,000 research studies, including clinical trials. Additionally, more than 1,350 physicians provide care in virtually every specialty of medicine for more than 425,000 patients annually.
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