Screening for regenerative drugs to solve heart failure

About the project:

Heart failure is a leading cause of mortality affecting more than 64 million people worldwide. During heart failure, the contractile cells of the heart (cardiomyocytes) are lost leading to a decline in heart function. Current treatments are limited to drugs that manage the symptoms, mechanical devices that support the failing heart and, in advanced disease, heart transplantation.

The team have recognised that there are no medications to stimulate the growth of cardiomyocytes, the cells of the heart that make it beat. To tackle this, they have created stem cell derived cardiomyocytes in a dish and will screen reNEW’s 30,000 compound library to identity drugs that have therapeutic potential to stimulate cardiomyocyte growth.

Lead researcher: Prof Enzo Porrello

Investigators: A/Prof David Elliott and Dr Kevin Watt

Tissue of interest: Heart

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