Grant: Operating Grant

Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality both in developed and developing countries. Understanding cardiac development and physiopathological mechanisms has been become indispensable for development of new and more efficient ways to cure cardiac diseases. Most importantly, congenital heart anomalies represent the most common human birth defect, and are the leading cause of death in the first year of life. Such defects involve structural abnormalities of the heart, primary cardiac muscle disorders, and disturbances of cardiac rhythm. Despite of many pharmacological and surgical treatments they only act on to overload the remaining cardiomyocytes. Generation of cardiac cells from stem cells offer a potential for the future cell replacement therapy.