For Immediate Release:

Saturday, December 28, 2024

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Professor Dr. Bianca Brundel, from the Amsterdam University Medical Center in the Netherlands, is a favorite presenter at the Get in Rhythm. Stay in Rhythm ^® Atrial Fibrillation Patient Conference each year.
She is at the leading edge of practical basic science research for afib. At the conference, she provides updates on her afib patient-driven research and gives actionable ways to help manage afib. She has shared information on testing how toxic triggers drive afib progression and how those findings will be used to discover effective treatments and diagnostics. She has discussed patient involvement in research, including how to get involved.
Dr. Brundel founded the nonprofit Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Platform (AFIP) Foundation, which promotes studies in collaboration with patients, and leads the CIRCULAR project funded by the Dutch government based on co-creating research with afib patients and StopAfib.org.
She and her colleagues recently showed that structural damage to the heart results from “derailment in cardiomyocyte proteostasis” and that this damage could be counteracted by heat shock proteins (HSPs).
A potent, non-toxic drug called GGA (geranylgeranylacetone) can induce heat shock proteins in the heart. In a dog model of afib, they showed that oral treatment with this drug prevents damage and protects against afib onset and progression.
We have learned so much from her. Thus, we in the afib patient community stepped up a few years ago to help fund some of Dr. Brundel’s patient-focused research.
With our help as a patient community, she aims to conduct the GENIALITY Trial of GGA for Postoperative Afib Prevention, which could lead to more effective treatments for afib and ways to prevent it.
This trial has just received approval to start recruiting. You can learn more about the trial, and get complimentary access to her 2024 conference presentation, here:
The Patient-Funded GENIALITY Study Has Approval to Start Recruiting

The post The Patient-Funded GENIALITY Study Has Approval to Start Recruiting first appeared on stopafib.