The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a medical technology created by a University of Iowa faculty member to treat abnormal heart rhythms. Boston Scientific Corporation received FDA approval for the Farapulse™ Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) System, a simple, cost-effective alternative to the standard-of-care thermal ablation treatment.

Santosh Kumar, PhD, assistant professor in Cardiovascular Medicine, was awarded a two-year, $110,000 pilot grant from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) to research endothelial function in relation to the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene.

Jennifer Streeter, MD, PhD, associate of Internal Medicine-Cardiovascular Medicine, has received a two-year, $200,000 American Heart Association (AHA) Innovative Project Award, for her study, “Radiopaque Aptamer Dimers as Next Generation Contrast Agents.”

Chad Grueter, PhD, associate professor of Internal Medicine, will become Vice Chair for Research, effective July 1.

Jared McLendon, PhD, associate in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, has received a three-year, $231,000 American Heart Association (AHA) Career Development Award.

Jin-Young Yoon, PhD, research assistant professor in Cardiovascular Medicine, received a three-year, $231,000 American Heart Association (AHA) Career Development Award (CDA).

Ravinder Reddy Gaddam, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Vikram Lab, received a three-year, $231,000 Career Development Award from the American Heart Association (AHA).

Frank Faraci, PhD, professor in Cardiovascular Medicine and of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, has been tapped to co-lead an international research network by the Leducq Foundation.

Jared McLendon, PhD, associate in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, has received a three-year, $175,000 grant from the Alzheimer’s Association examining the molecular significance of Sorbs2 in Alzheimer’s disease.

Four years ago, UI scientist Long-Sheng Song, MD, made an unexpected discovery, which he thought might form the basis for a new gene therapy treatment for heart failure. In his latest study, he shows that the approach does work in mice, protecting the animals from heart failure due to cardiac stress.