Grant: Operating Grant

Heart malformations present at birth represent the single largest class of birth defects in humans, and are the leading cause of death in infants under one year old. Despite significant advances in our understanding of the heart in the past decade, the regulatory pathways responsible for heart formation remain poorly understood. Without an understanding of cardiac development and normal and abnormal processes within the heart, it will not be possible to develop new and more efficient ways to cure cardiac diseases. Heart defects observed in babies include structural abnormalities of the heart, primary cardiac muscle disorders, and disturbances in heart beat. The objective of our work is to understand, at the molecular level, events associated with heart development and heart disease present at birth. Furthermore, our research focuses on the development of basic and clinical tools for the treatment of cardiac diseases. A better understanding of the molecular events associated with the cells in the unborn baby that will eventually become heart cells, will provide invaluable information for future development of cell and drug therapies for treatment of many cardiac diseases. The understanding obtained from the proposed studies will provide invaluable information on the use of stem cells as potential tools for cell therapy in cardiac diseases. Our research will also have a major impact on the advancement of research and general knowledge.