New Device from Tampa General and USF Enhances Heart Transplant Availability

Tampa General Hospital has announced the development of a groundbreaking device that optimizes donor organs, significantly increasing the number of eligible donor hearts for transplantation.

This innovative project was led by Dr. Lucian Lozonschi, professor and director of the division of cardiothoracic surgery and transplantation, and Dr. Ruisheng Liu, professor in the department of molecular pharmacology and physiology at the University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine. They secured $500,000 in funding for two years from the Interdisciplinary Research Award at USF, making it the largest grant awarded by the program this year to promote cutting-edge research.

The Synchronization Modulation Electric Field (SMEF) device, developed by Dr. Wei Chen, Liu, and Lozonschi, has the remarkable ability to maintain Na/K pump functions while generating adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecules. This functionality is crucial in conditions with limited or no ATP supply, such as hypoxia.

USF Health and TGH have collaborated on creating a medical district and advancing research and innovation in Tampa Bay.

“Our goal is to expand access to world-class care and save more lives,” said John Couris, president and CEO of TGH, in a release. “By leveraging innovative approaches to transplantation, we can extend the viability of critical organs and improve patient outcomes. This grant will further our research efforts, directly benefiting our patients.”

The release highlighted a national shortage of donor organs for patients with heart failure, noting that donor organs must be transplanted within just five hours, as they degrade during transit due to a lack of blood supply.

The SMEF device revolutionizes this process by extending the viable transit time from five hours to more than eight hours. This advancement addresses the shortage of available hearts for donation by prolonging the usability of donor hearts. Additionally, the device enhances the organ’s function by protecting its cellular activity during transport.

“Drs. Lozonschi and Liu make an outstanding team for this translational research project, which is taking foundational bench science through rigorous pre-clinical trials. This research exemplifies the bench-to-bedside progress achievable at academic health systems like ours,” said Dr. Charles J. Lockwood, executive vice president of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, in a statement.

Lozonschi and Liu were among over three dozen teams competing for the Interdisciplinary Research Award at USF. Despite the competition, they successfully secured a portion of the $1.5 million available to support their groundbreaking work.

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