$20,000 Grant to Be Used for Improving Contraction in Cardiac Cells for Patients With Severe Heart Failure

SEATTLE (May 15, 2014)  Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that Dr. Farid Moussavi-Harami, Acting Instructor/Senior Fellow, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology at the University of Washington, has received the $20,000 Perkins Coie 2014 “Award for Discovery.”  Dr. Moussavi-Harami plans to use the award to continue his research in connection with developing a novel mechanism to treat cardiac cell contraction that will have fewer side effects, while strengthening and improving overall patient health and survival.  The “Award for Discovery” is part of Perkins Coie's commitment to support translational research at the UW Medicine.  The 2014 award to Dr. Moussavi-Harami is the eighth of its kind made by Perkins Coie.

“The research that Dr. Moussavi-Harami and his team are doing could very well revolutionize cardiac care,” said Jim Lisbakken, a partner and co-chair of Perkin Coie’s Life Sciences practice.  “Perkins Coie is very excited to be able to further support such important research at UW Medicine.  We’re very pleased that our ‘Award of Discovery’ grants continue helping advance so many important research projects that have the potential to affect the lives of so many people.”

Heart failure - the inability for the heart to keep up with its work load - is a growing epidemic in developed countries, with high mortality despite current available medical treatments.  Most available therapies have side effects such as alteration of the cellular calcium levels and, more importantly, do not directly affect the contractile apparatus of the heart.  Medications that do increase heart contraction often have unwanted side effects, altering fundamental cellular processes and ultimately not improving patient survival.  Dr. Moussavi-Harami’s research focuses on a novel mechanism to treat this problem by altering the fuel used for contraction employing the naturally occurring molecule, deoxyadenosine triphosphate (dATP).

“The discovery that cardiac muscle cells use dATP rather than ATP as their energy source is very important and opens an avenue for improving the ability of damaged heart muscle to contract,” said John T. Slattery, Vice Dean, Research and Graduate Education, University of Washington School of Medicine.  “The Perkins Coie award will allow Dr. Moussavi-Harami to build on this fundamental discovery to see if it can be used therapeutically.  This important and promising translational science is consistent with our goal in opening the South Lake Union research facility and with Perkins Coie’s long-standing support of the work taking place in our labs.  It is a wonderful choice for the award”

About the Perkins Coie “Award for Discovery”:  Since 2007, Perkins Coie has awarded a $20,000 grant each year to support new projects that will generate data to be used as a basis for larger research programs to be funded by the National Institutes of Health or other funding agencies.  In 2012, Perkins Coie extended its contribution with a commitment of another $100,000 to be distributed over the following five years.  Perkins Coie’s “Award of Discovery” is a part of the firm’s larger Innovative Minds grant program, which recognizes innovation and creativity in our communities.

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