PHILADELPHIA – Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will receive $2 million over the next four years from the American Heart Association and the Jon Holden DeHaan Foundation to study how heart muscle cell regeneration can help improve outcomes for heart attack and heart failure patients.
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Jonathan Epstein, MD
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In particular, researchers aim to determine how these cells develop and to better understand their inner molecular workings. Ideally, findings from this research will lead to new ways to treat heart attacks, congenital heart disease, and heart failure.
The research will focus on developing methods to identify stem cells from the heart or other organs, such as bone marrow, to give back to patients in a way that will sustain long-lasting recovery of cardiac function. The goal is to build a foundation for using adult stem cells for regenerating and repairing heart muscle, as well as for developing new therapies and drugs in the fight against heart disease.
This award establishes an American Heart Association-Jon Holden DeHaan Foundation Cardiac Myogenesis Research Center at Penn, led by Jonathan Epstein, MD, Chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. Grants for three new centers, including Penn’s, totaled $6 million.
The award was effective in April 2009 and will be funded through March 2012.
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