Encouraging stem cells to turn into heart cells

Dissecting the context-specific roles of WNT signalling in cardiomyocyte differentiation using lateral-plate-mesoderm-enriched embryonic stem cell culture

Professors Stefan Hoppler and Kevin Docherty are looking at how the heart and circulatory system develop in embryos. Understanding how this tissue develops in the early stages will help scientists to recreate heart cell development in the laboratory. The ultimate goal is to use this knowledge to repair hearts damaged by heart attacks. This team is interested in a particular growth factor called Wnt produced during embryo development. The level of Wnt dictates when cells develop into heart and circulatory cells in the body. They will study embryonic stem cells, which have the potential to develop into any cell type. They will alter the level of Wnt in these cells and see what effect this has on their ability to develop into heart cells. The aim is to work out how to alter Wnt levels to best encourage stem cells to turn into heart cells in the lab, and hopefully to use this knowledge to work out a way of encouraging dormant cells in the adult heart to turn into heart cells. Understanding how human embryonic stem cells develop into other cell types could provide clues as to how to develop new tissue to replace that which is injured as a result of cardiovascular disease.