Research Achievements

• First discovery that solutions developed to protect the adult heart during surgical repair actually damage the child's heart
• Identification of damaging components in solutions used to protect the child's heart during cardiac surgery
• Creation of unique research model of cyanotic heart disease
• Demonstration of new methods to protect the child's heart during surgical repair of birth defects
• Identification of key mediators responsible for resistance of heart to injury during surgery
• First demonstration of genetic component responsible for susceptibility to injury caused by heart attack
• Discovery that thrombopoietin, a naturally occurring protein being developed as a pharmaceutical to increase platelet count in cancer patients during chemotherapy, can also protect the heart against injury during a heart attack
• Determination of molecular mechanisms underlying thrombopoietin and erythropoietin-induced protection of the heart against injury from ischemia-reperfusion
• First demonstration that 10Gy total body irradiation, a potentially survivable dose in a radiation accident or radiological terrorism event, results in injury to the cardiovascular system
• First demonstration of delayed cardioprotection by the volatile anesthetic isoflurane