Identifying the heart stem cells that could help repair the heart

Pilot Grant: Characterisation of a novel selectable cell-surface regulator of cardiovascular progenitors for stem cell-mediated regeneration

Thanks to research, it is now possible to direct embryonic stem cells in the laboratory to mature into spontaneously contracting heart cells. However, these procedures are currently too inefficient and unreliable to generate stem cells that could be used in patients, for example, to help repair and regenerate damaged heart muscle following a heart attack. One way to speed up the production of heart stem cells is to select and isolate cells that are already on their way to maturing into heart muscle and then allow these cells to grow and multiply. However, to select these cells, scientists must be able to first identify them and this relies on having reliable markers that show a stem cell is truly turning into a heart cell. Most of the known markers are buried deep within the cell so are difficult to detect. Professor Hoppler’s lab has identified an easily detectable marker called PROTOGENIN that is present at the cell surface, and could be the ‘flag’ they are looking for. In this pilot project, they aim to prove that this marker can be used to reliably identify these cells. They will also investigate what role the marker molecule plays in heart cell development. The results will improve knowledge of how heart muscle is formed from immature stem cells and take us closer to being able to use stem cells to repair the damaged heart, such as after a heart attack.