Randolph Cardiologist Awarded
Four-year Research Grant

Dr. Markus Meyer of Randolph has been awarded a four-year approximately $250,000 grant from the American Heart Association to begin Jan. 1. Dr. Meyer is an assistant professor at the University of Vermont and a Fletcher Allen Health Care cardiologist working at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph.

The goal of his research is to better understand the causes of heart failure. An improved understanding of the causes should identify new treatments designed to both prevent and treat heart failure. 

"I’m very excited that I got this grant at a time when it’s really difficult to get funded," Dr. Meyer said. "I hope my research can help patients with heart failure."

According to Dr. Meyer, half of patients suffering heart failure have normal cardiac contraction, but impaired cardiac relaxation. The patients that are mostly affected have long-standing hypertension. This condition is called "diastolic heart failure." It is the goal of his study to shed light on the underlying mechanisms of diastolic heart failure.

This study will be performed using extremely small samples of human heart tissue donated by patients during bypass surgery. The donation will not affect patients’ heart function following surgery, but is critical to this research. The tissue is cut into small "strip preparations," which are attached to a force-measuring device and electrically stimulated to contract. A series of different stimulation protocols performed in every sample will allow Dr. Meyer to determine if the cause of impaired relaxation is due to changes in cellular calcium handling or due to changes in contractile proteins.

By learning to understand the mechanisms underlying impaired relaxation, Dr. Meyer hopes to better define possible molecular targets for the treatment of diastolic heart failure. This understanding may help to prevent heart failure symptoms and ideally improve outcomes.

This work will dominate much of Dr. Meyer’s work for the next four years. He will spend three days a week at the University of Vermont and Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington completing this research with the aid of a research team.

Dr. Meyer will continue to spend two days a week at Gifford Medical Center, where he sees cardiology patients. Dr. Meyer is married and the father of two young children.

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