Improved Assay for Heart Attack

The presence of the isoenzyme lactate dehydrogenase-I in the blood is an accepted biomarker of myocardial infarction (heart attack). Prior to research performed in the early 1980’s at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in the laboratory of Dr. Zakariya Shihabi clinical diagnosis of myocardial infarction was performed by electrophoresis. This electrophoretic procedure is technically difficult, time-consuming and expensive. Dr. Shihabi’s research led to a rapid , automated assay allowing this important clinical diagnostic to become more widely used. This technology is owned by Wake Forest University and currently licensed to Roche Diagnostics.