Bolli receives donation to advance adult stem cell research
Louis Waterman, Jewish Heritage Foundation Fund for Excellence board chair, announces his part of a $3 million gift to the University of Louisville to help advance Dr. Roberto Bolli's adult stem cell research in the treatment of heart disease.
For more than a decade, Roberto Bolli, M.D., FAHA, has been working to revolutionize the treatment of heart failure by providing patients treatment derived from their own cardiac stem cells.
The University of Louisville on Friday announced that the Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence is providing just over $2 million to help Bolli move his research another step closer to being able to help potentially millions of people throughout the world.
The university also announced it was providing nearly $1 million from proceeds from a previous gift from former U of L board chair the late Owsley Frazier, bringing the total to $3 million in support of Bolli’s groundbreaking work.
The funds will be used to purchase and install a Current Good Manufacturing Practices facility required by the Food and Drug Administration for processing the stem cells for use in the study participants.
"Through nearly five years of research studies Dr. Bolli has provided patients who have had heart attacks infusions of their own cardiac stem cells and finding that their hearts are actually regenerating heart muscle severely damaged by heart attack," James Ramsey, Ph.D., president of the University of Louisville said. "This gift from the Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence will enable Dr. Bolli and his team to significantly expand his clinical trials with the goal of transforming the lives of hundreds of people, and eventually millions."
