Characterisation of the pro-angiogenic properties of endogenous cardiac extracellular vesicle delivered microRNAs during heart injury and repair in zebrafish (Mr Aaron Scott)
One of the ways the heart repairs itself after a heart attack is by making new blood vessels to restore blood flow to the injured cells as they recover. Damaged cells can send tiny packages, called extracellular vesicles, which contain coded messages in the form of a molecule called microRNA (miRNAs) to communicate with other cells. Dr Richardson previously showed that vesicles containing cardiovascular miRNAs are present in the fluid surrounding the heart, and that the number of these vesicles is increased after a heart attack. Vesicles are also taken up by blood vessel cells and drive blood vessel growth, but it’s not clear exactly how this happens. The vesicles are very tiny, which makes them difficult to study in a living organism. In this studentship the team will use translucent zebrafish and fluorescent labels to detect the vesicles moving around in live fish and track which cells send and receive them. They hope to discover the specific microRNA messages that are sent by heart muscle cells and how blood vessels respond to them. If they can identify the packages that drive heart repair they could potentially develop drugs which could mimic them.
Project details
| Grant amount | £128,395 |
|---|---|
| Grant type | Fellowships |
| Application type | PhD Studentship |
| Start Date | 01 July 2018 |
| Duration | 3 years, 6 months |
| Reference | FS/18/34/33666 |
| Status | In Progress |
