Building Heart Muscle: How Does Wnt Signalling Control Gene-Regulatory Networks to Coordinate Cardiomyocyte Differentiation
After damage from a heart attack, the heart is unable to repair itself. Instead the damaged area turns into scar tissue, irreparably affecting the heart’s function. Understanding how heart muscle is first built in the developing embryo could provide clues to help hearts to recover after a heart attack. A cell communication system called Wnt governs the building of the heart and is also involved in heart repair. Professor Hoppler plans to investigate which genes are controlled by the Wnt system to identify the molecules that are actually building the heart muscle. These molecules could hold the key to improving adult heart regeneration. They will use stem cells from human embryos and frog tissue to identify genes that are controlled by Wnt. They will then confirm the importance of these genes in heart development by removing the genes from frog embryos or human stem cells and studying the effects. This study will lead to an improved understanding of the genetic control mechanisms driving heart development and could provide insights into how this goes wrong and causes congenital heart defects. It will also help researchers who are working to develop ways to promote heart muscle repair in adults, so that damage from a heart attack does not lead to heart failure.
Project details
| Grant amount | £1,080,055 |
|---|---|
| Grant type | Chairs & Programme Grants |
| Application type | Programme Grant |
| Start Date | 01 August 2018 |
| Duration | 5 years |
| Reference | RG/18/8/33673 |
| Status | In Progress |
