Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects (NSERC partnered)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) ranks number one in worldwide mortality. In Canada, heart disease is responsible for a third of the yearly deaths. The procedures currently used to treat heart attack patients can restore blood flow to the heart, but they do not repair or regenerate the damaged tissue. As a result, patients are left with a poorly functioning heart. About 1 in every 10 patients will develop advanced heart failure, and this number is growing. These patients suffer a loss of blood pumping capacity, and heart failure has a 5-year mortality rate of ~50%. Thus, there is a need to develop a new therapy able to simultaneously prevent the onset of heart failure and promote heart repair. Cell therapy has shown promise for treating damaged hearts, but improvements are needed. Our goal is to develop a new biomaterial that can be used with cell therapy to improve repair in the damaged heart and limit the extent of damage that occurs. The material is made from collagen, a protein with an important role in supporting cells and regulating their function. It is injectable for easy delivery into the injured heart tissue. In preparation for clinical use, we aim to investigate how the physical properties of our injectable collagen materials affect their ability to repair the heart. The materials will also be optimized to enhance the function of therapeutic cells. For this, we will use animal models of heart disease, which closely mimics the human condition. This work will allow us to establish which characteristics our materials require in order to achieve the best therapeutic outcome.