Prominent proteomic and cardiac scientist Jennifer Van Eyk, PhD, has been named the inaugural director of Cedars-Sinai's Advanced Clinical Biosystems Research Institute.

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE: EW), the global leader in the science of heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring, today announced the successful completion of the first three human implants of its FORTIS mitral transcatheter heart valve, which were performed in February and March by the Heart Team at St. Thomas' Hospital in London.

In the presence of Quebec Premier, Pauline Marois, ministers Nicolas Marceau, Jean-François Lisée and Élaine Zakaïb, Montreal Mayor, Denis Coderre, and the representatives of international pharmaceutical companies, Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, Director of the Research Centre of the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI), announced today the launch of ARTERIA, a research program aimed at developing ground-breaking treatments for cardiovascular diseases, the number one cause of death worldwide.

Brenda Keene had a history of heart disease in her family, but she still didn't anticipate all the health problems she would face. After battling first breast cancer and then coronary artery disease beginning in her late 20s, she has made it her mission to fight for her health and encourage others to do the same.

Congenital heart disease is the most common form of birth defect, affecting one out of every 125 babies, according to the National Institutes of Health. Researchers from the University of Missouri recently found success using a drug to treat laboratory mice with one form of congenital heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - a weakening of the heart caused by abnormally thick muscle. By suppressing a faulty protein, the researchers reduced the thickness of the mice's heart muscles and improved their cardiac functioning.

The American Heart Association has awarded Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine $438,740 for cardiac research in 2013, bringing the lifetime total the organization has awarded to Loyola to $10.6 million.

A team of interventional cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and Memorial Hermann Heart & Vascular Institute-Texas Medical Center performed Texas’ first transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) under conscious sedation using the Edwards Sapien valve.

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:AEGR), a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for patients with debilitating rare diseases, today announced that Health Canada has granted a Notice of Compliance (NOC) approving JUXTAPID as an adjunct to a low-fat diet and other lipid-lowering drugs, with or without LDL apheresis, to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in adult patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH).