Mohawk Valley Heart Institute 2209 Genesee St. Utica, NY 13501 Bob Stronach, 315-798-8195 Debra Altdoerffer, 315-624-5600	Masonic Medical Research Laboratory 2150 Bleecker St. Utica, NY 13501 Ronald Kamp, 317-735-2217 ext.127

UTICA -- Research on live human heart tissue began this week at the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory (MMRL), as the result of a ground-breaking collaboration with the Mohawk Valley Heart Institute. A Heart Institute patient who underwent open-heart surgery agreed to provide the first sample.

Dr. Frederic S. Joyce, a cardiothoracic surgeon, performed a heart bypass and valve procedure on the patient at St. Elizabeth Medical Center. During the procedure a portion of the heart called the atrial appendage was removed to provide access for tubes that connect the patient to the heart-lung machine. The removed atrial appendage tissue would normally have been discarded. The tissue sample was transported in a cardioplegic solution, which keeps the tissue alive, giving researchers the ability to perform studies on viable tissue.

The MMRL will use tissue from cardiac surgery patients for research to better understand the normal function of the human heart as well as what causes abnormal heart rhythms and what treatment options are possible to prevent, improve or eventually cure arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation.

"We are excited about the collaboration with the Mohawk Valley Heart Institute and look forward to gaining valuable information from these studies that will advance our ability to deal with a wide variety of cardiac diseases, including atrial fibrillation, which affects nearly 1 in 20 Americans over the age of 65," said Dr. Charles Antzelevitch, MMRL Executive Director and Director of Research. "Our goal is to better understand the intricacies of the electrical function of the upper chambers of the heart in health and disease, so that we can design innovative new treatments to more effectively deal with this problem."

Now that the 8-year-old Heart Institute "has developed busy diagnostic and treatment services, we're ready to add clinical research to our cardiac program," noted Dr. Joyce. "This collaboration with the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory is our first step in this research arena."

The Masonic Medical Research Laboratory is internationally prominent, especially in the area of experimental cardiology. It has consistently rated in the top 10-20% in competition for federal grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The Mohawk Valley Heart Institute is a cooperative venture of Faxton-St. Luke's Healthcare and St. Elizabeth Medical Center. Under the Heart Institute umbrella, cardiac surgery, coronary angioplasty and electrophysiology are performed at St. Elizabeth; cardiac catheterizations take place at both St. Elizabeth and Faxton-St. Luke's; outpatient cardiac rehabilitation services are offered at Faxton-St. Luke's (Faxton campus).