Grant: Foundation Grant

Myocardial infarction or heart attack occurs from coronary artery disease. Which is the leading cause of death worldwide with more than 7 million individual dying annually from this disease because the heart has a limited ability to repair itself when it gets injured after a heart attack, the loss of heart cells impairs the hearts ability to pump blood which results in heart failure. Heart failure represents a major financial burden to the Canadian healthcare system since these individuals diagnosed with this form of heart disease require costly long-term care. Presently, there are no clinical treatments that will prevent the heart cells from dying after heart attack. The goal of this foundation grant is to understand the processes that cause heart cells to die during heart attack and use this information to devise new treatments that will prevent heart cells from dying after a heart attack. Preventing heart cells dying after a heart attack will allow the heart to pump blood and prevent heart failure. This will have a positive impact on the Canadian healthcare system and improve quality of life of individuals with heart disease.