PROJECTS
cardiomyogenesis in humans
Differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into spontaneously beating heart cells
Human Heart Development in a Dish
One aspect of our research utilizes embryonic (hESC) and induced (hiPSC) pluripotent stem cell models of human cardiogenesis to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of cardiomyocyte and cardiac neural crest cell development, and their potential role in cardiac regenerative medicine.
postnatal heart growth and regeneration
Regenerative Biology of Cardiomyocytes
Some species, such as zebrafish and urodele amphibians, are capable of generating and regenerating heart muscle cells throughout their adult life. Mammals on the other hand lose this capacity shortly after birth. This makes humans particularly vulnerable to heart disease, as it blunts our ability to replace damaged heart muscle cells with healthy ones in response to disease (i.e. heart attack). We are employing mouse genetics to understand the mechanisms that limit adult cardiomyocyte regeneration in mammals and how to potentially reverse this therapeutically.
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http://users.auth.gr/kchatzistergos/ and here
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