In the Department of Biomedical Sciences at ETSU’s Quillen College of Medicine, researcher Michael Beaumont is studying how existing medical technology could potentially be adapted to treat heart failure.
Beaumont, a professor and associate dean for research and graduate education at Quillen, focuses his research on heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, or HFrEF. The condition occurs when the heart’s main pumping chamber weakens and cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs.
As HFrEF progresses, activity in the vagus nerve, which helps regulate heart function as part of the parasympathetic nervous system, can decrease.
“During the progression of heart failure, there’s reduced activity of the vagus nerve,” Beaumont said. “So, the idea is to supplement the lack of activity by stimulating the nerve.”
Beaumont’s lab studies vagus nerve stimulation, or VNS, as a potential approach to restoring some of that activity. Small generators send electrical pulses through leads connected to the vagus nerve to stimulate parasympathetic activity.
The research builds on technology previously used to treat conditions such as epilepsy. Beaumont’s team is studying how VNS technology could be adapted for cardiovascular applications by targeting parasympathetic activity.
Beaumont came to ETSU in 2012 from Montreal through a research partnership with medical device manufacturer Cyberonics, now LivaNova. Since arriving, his lab has published roughly 30 papers and secured about $6 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. His active $2.7 million NIH R01 grant renewal focuses on optimizing VNS delivery.
Previous human clinical trials have examined the safety and effectiveness of vagus nerve stimulation in people with heart failure, but results have not matched findings seen in some preclinical research. One challenge involves patient tolerance because higher levels of electrical stimulation can produce side effects, including voice changes, gagging and nausea.
Beaumont is using reverse translational research, bringing findings from clinical studies back to the laboratory to refine stimulation settings. His team is testing a method known as “bursting,” which delivers brief bursts of 300-hertz electrical stimulation rather than continuous stimulation.
The research is examining whether this approach can activate targeted neural pathways while reducing unwanted side effects.
Beyond his research, Beaumont works to secure shared equipment for campus core facilities, including confocal microscopes and mass spectrometers, to encourage collaboration between basic laboratory science and clinical research across the university.
He also supports students through his role as associate dean, helping guide the biomedical sciences graduate program. The program welcomed 15 incoming doctoral students this year, one of its largest incoming classes to date.
