$4M Award for Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death

A new grant will allow UR researchers to focus on the basic mechanisms that apply to a broad spectrum of genetic and acquired heart rhythm disorders.

A team led by Arthur J. Moss, M.D., will conduct a five-year study into how the genetic condition called Long QT Syndrome, type 3, might overlap with common heart rhythm disorders that can occur and cause heart attacks.  The research team includes scientists from University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and Columbia University New York Presbyterian Hospital. Moss is the Bradford C. Berk, MD, PhD Distinguished Professor of Medicine, and founding director of the Heart Research Follow-up Program.

The National Institutes of Health awarded the $4 million grant to Moss, who is one of the nation’s most influential cardiologists and has been studying aspects of Long QT since the 1960s. In 1979 he established an international registry for patients with the rare, inherited genetic disorder. Since then, scientists around the world have used the registry to track down more than 500 genetic mutations involving 10 genes that cause various versions of the syndrome. Their work has contributed to an 80 percent reduction in life-threatening events for patients with Long QT.