Federal Grant Award Summary

The University of Pittsburgh received $782,341 in funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) for a Project Grant awarded July 15, 2026, with completion targeted for May 31, 2031. The project will develop and validate an adaptive, artificial intelligence-guided, closed-loop neuromodulation system designed to predict and prevent ventricular arrhythmias (VAs)—including ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF)—in patients with prior myocardial infarction. The system integrates spinal cord stimulation (SCS) and selective cardiac vagus nerve stimulation (SVNS) to restore autonomic nervous system balance and suppress arrhythmia development by coordinating multimodal autonomic and cardiac biomarkers derived from electrocardiography, neural recordings, hemodynamics, and neurotransmitter measurements.

This research addresses a critical clinical gap: existing treatments such as implantable cardioverter-defibrillators operate reactively to terminate arrhythmias after onset rather than prevent them, while pharmacologic and catheter ablation therapies offer limited long-term efficacy. By targeting the underlying autonomic dysfunction—characterized by sympathetic hyperactivity and parasympathetic withdrawal—that drives arrhythmia susceptibility, the project aims to advance preventive bioelectronic neuromodulation therapies beyond current static, open-loop delivery paradigms to dynamic, patient-adaptive interventions capable of real-time prediction and suppression of VA onset.