Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Everyone is aware of the impact heart attacks have on peoples quality of life, and ultimately that death due to heart failure is an all too common event. This is particularly true in people who have obesity and/or diabetes. Research has identified things which change in the heart to cause a heart attack. Exactly why these various changes occur in people with obesity and diabetes has still to be fully understood. My research project is designed to understand what causes changes in the structure and function of the heart in individuals with obesity and/or diabetes. To accomplish this objective we focus specifically on the effects of substances which are actually produced and released by fat cells. These substances can then cause effects on the heart after traveling in the bloodstream. I will use various research approaches, including: heart muscle cells grown in the lab in which we can study in microscopic detail the events which happen inside each cell; animal models which are made such that they cannot produce any of these substances and which can be subjected to surgically induced heart attack; these animal models can be used to study changes in cardiac structure and function, for example just as a doctor would analyze a patient with echocardiography. Identification of the causes of heart failure will clearly lead to opportunities for better prevention and treatment.