Stem cells have the potential to treat heart diseases by transforming into heart cells and blood vessels or by producing protective factors.
Furthermore, these human heart cells produced from stem cells can be used to grow whole tissues of the human heart. These engineered human heart tissues might then be developed to replace and support damaged sections of the heart through surgical transplantation, or to test new drugs designed to treat cardiac diseases. Cardiac stem cells therapy has great potential for repair of coronary heart disease.
In order to utilise human stem cells to treat heart disease effectively, the cardiac lab has a multidisciplinary approach to enhancing stem cell cardiomyogenesis, improve survival and functionality of stem cell-derived heart cells, and to optimise their delivery to the damaged heart. Studies include identification of suitable stem cell sources, cardiac differentiation, stem cell secretomes, cytoprotective, tissue assembly and transplantation strategies.\
We have successfully developed a human heart model in the dish using human heart cells generated from patient-specific stem cells. This human heart model has allowed us to test new drugs that have potential to protect the heart from injury, and to study genetic mutations that can cause heart disease.
