Darlene Shiley is giving new meaning to a gift from the heart by donating $1.25 million in her husband's name to San Diego State University for heart disease research.

The gift will fund the Donald P. Shiley Center for Cardiovascular Research, which will be housed on the third floor of the SDSU BioScience Center, and will honor Donald's contributions to the field.

"As a product of the California State University system myself, I'm very aware of the fact that San Diego State needs private support in order to produce the caliber of graduates capable of doing the kind of amazing work my husband did during his career," Darlene said. "I'm incredibly proud of him."

Donald, an entrepreneurial and innovative engineer, patented four of his creations, including the Bjork-Shiley heart valve, which revolutionized heart surgery in the 1970s. He also designed numerous other medical devices, including an endotracheal tube used to maintain the airway in unconscious patients, as well as developed an aircraft fuel booster pump used by the U.S. military.

"Donald's development of the tilting-disc artificial heart valve was an innovative response to a very real need in the cardiovascular field," said Dr. Roberta Gottlieb, director of the SDSU BioScience Center and Frederick G. Henry Chair in the Life Sciences. "The BioScience Center intends to develop creative responses just like his to address today's pressing health concerns."

Darlene and Donald Shiley, who have been married for nearly 30 years, are longtime benefactors to the San Diego region, funding causes close to their hearts, including the sciences and the arts. Darlene, originally a biology major at San Jose State University, met Donald when she starred in a theatrical production of "The Lion in Winter."

At the recent American Heart Association meeting held in Orlando FL, in November 4-7, 2007, BioScience Center investigators presented their latest Dr. Roberta A. Gottlieb presented her work on autophagy in the heart, showing that upregulation of autophagy is cardioprotective in the setting of ischemia/reperfusion (heart attack). Dr. Gustafsson presented her work showing that Bnip3, a pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family, is an important mediator of cardiac injury. Last year, Dr. Gustafsson was awarded the Young Investigator Prize by the International Society for Heart Research for her work on Bnip3. In this meeting, she presented new findings mapping the key regulatory domains of Bnip3.

Dr. Mark Sussman, who is affiliated with the BSC, was recognized by the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences, for his exciting work on Akt and on cardiac stem cells. He is the newly-elected vice chair of the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council of the American Heart Association. Dr. Gottlieb serves as the vice chair of the Research Committee of the Western Regional Affiliate of the American Heart Association.

Dr. Gottlieb and Dr. Frey (Chairman of Biology, SDSU) also presented work at the Frontiers in Mitochondrial Research meeting held in Italy November 25-29. [see research page]