News Releases

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

UH Case Medical Center first to offer novel HeartFlow FFRCT technology

CLEVELAND – Medical tests are stressful. Invasive tests, stress tests and unnecessary surgeries are too, not to mention the costs associated with all of them, but the alternative of undiagnosed heart problems are not. They can be fatal.   
 
UH Case Medical Center is now offering a new, non-invasive test for coronary artery disease designed to help physicians develop the right treatment plan for each patient. Developed by HeartFlow Inc., FFRCT  is the first and only non-invasive imaging technology specifically designed to offer insight on both the extent of the blockage, as well as whether it is impacting blood flow to the heart.
 
UH Case Medical Center’s Daniel Simon, MD, and Hiram Bezerra, MD, PhD were the first to use the FFRCT test in the United States on January 16. 

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Advanced Biological Laboratories signs agreement with UH Case Medical Center to offer HIV drug resistance tests

CLEVELAND — University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center has signed an agreement with Advanced Biological Laboratories (ABL), an information technology and diagnostic company based in Luxembourg, to join efforts on the designing and validation of an HIV drug resistance and tropism assay based on next-generation sequencing (NGS).
 
Under the agreement, UH will begin using ABL’s DeepChek® analysis software with DEEPGEN™HIV, the HIV diagnostic test invented at University Hospitals’ Translational Laboratory by Miguel Quinones-Mateu, PhD, Scientific Director at the UH lab and Assistant Professor at the Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The new test will be offered as “DEEPGEN™HIV, powered by DeepChek®.”
 
The combined DEEPGEN™HIV/ DeepChek® test will aid monitoring the success of anti-HIV treatment by determining drug resistance and the ability of the virus to infect different cells based on deep genetic sequencing.  It will also provide a sensitive platform for HIV physicians and researchers, both in the academia and industry, to detect minority variants at frequencies unimaginable with standard HIV genotypic tests based on Sanger (population) sequencing.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Researchers identify new gene mutations linked to colorectal cancer in African American patients

CLEVELAND – Case Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have identified new gene mutations unique to colon cancers in African Americans – the population with the highest incidence and death rates of any group for this disease.

This discovery - namely, that colorectal cancers appear different on a molecular level in African Americans – offers new hope for these patients. With this groundbreaking knowledge, scientists now will seek to develop treatments that target the distinct nature of the disease in African Americans – and, they hope, begin to reduce the devastation disproportionately wrought on this population.

The findings, published in the Jan. 12 edition of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), only became possible because of technological advances in gene sequencing and computational analysis. The study that revealed this invaluable information ultimately involved review of 1.5 billion bits of data.

“This milestone study builds on our previous genetic research on colorectal cancer,” said Sanford Markowitz, MD, PhD, corresponding author on the study, and principal investigator of the $11.3 million federal gastrointestinal cancers research program (GI SPORE) that includes this project. ”It illustrates the extraordinary impact that dedicated, collaborative teams can make when they combine scientific experience and ingenuity with significant investment.”

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Rodney J. Folz, MD, PhD, Named Chief of Pulmonary Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center

CLEVELAND – University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine announce the appointment of Rodney J. Folz, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Pulmonary/Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, effective Feb. 1, 2015. He also will serve as the inaugural Director of the UH Respiratory Health Institute and, pending approval of his faculty appointment by the Case Western Reserve University Board of Trustees, the Hubell Professor of Medicine at the School of Medicine.
 
Dr. Folz is a nationally recognized authority in pulmonary disease, specifically in the areas of lung disease following stem cell transplant, oxidative stress and older adults with asthma or COPD. Prior to his new appointment, he was Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Disorders Medicine at the University of Louisville where he also served as the Medical Director of the University of Louisville Health Plan and University of Louisville Disease Management. In these leadership roles, he developed and significantly expanded the clinical, research and educational programs at the University. 

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals announces grant funding to physician-scientists at major academic medical centers nationwide to support new drug development

CLEVELAND – The Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals (UH) in Cleveland, Ohio, has announced the 2015 recipients of Harrington Scholar-Innovator Awards. The awards will support drug discovery efforts of great promise at renowned institutions across the nation.
 
For the past decade, American medicine has been challenged in developing new drugs that would improve on standard of care. Lacking knowhow and industry support, many discoveries are unable to advance into the clinical realm. Aimed at addressing this critical issue, the Harrington Discovery Institute (HDI), established in 2012, is a national initiative dedicated to physician-scientists, enabling them to transform breakthrough insights into novel medicines. The institute has become the catalyst for a new national model that aligns, through structure and mission, for-profit and nonprofit resources to create a dedicated system for drug development.   


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