Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Heart attacks are a major cause of death globally, including in Canada. They occur when diseased cells accumulate in blood vessels, forming atherosclerotic plaques. Normally, our bodies remove these diseased cells through a process of dead cell clearance. Defective clearance of diseased cells is a common problem found in plaques that cause heart attacks. This clearance process may be regulated by inflammation in a way that we do not yet fully understand. Some medicines aim to lower the risk of heart attacks by reducing inflammation. However, without understanding the relationship between inflammation and cell clearance, these treatments are often ineffective and can have serious side effects. To address this critical knowledge gap, we will study how inflammation increases the risk of heart attacks by damaging the clearance of diseased cells in atherosclerotic plaques. We will use novel imaging tools to examine this process in samples of diseased hearts generously donated by people who have had heart transplant surgeries. Additionally, we will model diseased cells by culturing healthy cells in a dish with inflammatory molecules and test how inflammation affects cell clearance. By gaining this knowledge, we hope to develop better treatments that target the clearance of diseased cells in plaques, reducing the risk of heart attacks with fewer side effects.