Helping to equip researchers with a more efficient tool to measure how living heart muscle cells contract

Funds towards the purchase of a CytoCypher system for the cardiac function section of NHLI

Live heart muscle cells are an invaluable tool for studying how disease affects the heart’s ability to contract. However, the traditional way of studying these cells using video tracking technology is slow because only one cell can be studied at a time. This is problematic as heart muscle cells only survive for a few days and quickly begin to change from how they would behave in the body. In addition, only a subset of the cells can be analysed, which can bias the results of the experiments. Recently, a new technology has been developed that offers a more rapid measurement and analysis of many cells at the same time. Where existing methods can only take up to ten recordings of cells per hour, the CytoCypher system can measure a hundred cells per hour. It uses a fixed observation platform for the cells, and a scanning microscope with state-of-the-art lenses, which allows rapid scanning without disturbing the cells. This faster system will allow Professor Harding’s team to more fully investigate cell populations and perform a wider range of experiments. This would mean that less heart tissue from humans would be needed, as this will enable small groups of cells (>30 cells) to be measured under a number of experimental conditions. The enhanced system will also reduce the number of animals required for experiments, since more cells can be used from a single sample.