Human cardiac stem cells, can they contribute to cardiac regeneration?
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NESCI would be interested in funding / studentship opportunities for the following proposal.
NESCI are interested in industrial partners who may like to collaborate in one of these fields (for a CASE studentship or other awards), or in anyone who is interested in these areas of research (including other academic groups). For further details, please contact Helen Clamp from NESCI.
Project: Human cardiac stem cells, can they contribute to cardiac regeneration?
Lead: Dr Annette Meeson
In preliminary studies we have observed that the developing fetal human heart is enriched for stem cells that have a side population phenotype. These cells are defined by their expression of Abcg2 which confers on them the ability to efflux Hoechst 33342 dye. In studies on mouse cardiac side population (CSP) cells it has been shown that these cells can differentiate towards a more mature cardiac lineage in vivo and in vitro suggesting that these CSP could be useful in the clinical setting as a cardiac stem cell based therapy. However, little is known about human cardiac stem cells. We have now optimised protocols for isolating CSP cells from human fetal heart tissue. The aims of this proposed study would be to determine the ability of these human cells to proliferate and differentiate into functional cardiomyocytes. This will involve differentiating these cells in vitro and in vivo and determining if they exhibit the morphological, proteomic, transcriptional and functional characteristics of adult cardiomyocytes.
