April 27 - The Medical College of Wisconsin received a four-year, $2 Million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to investigate the molecular mechanisms that control heart development. Understanding this mechanism will provide greater insight into the molecular basis of congenital heart disease and its prevention.
This study will examine the role that GATA4 and GATA6 genes play in cardiac development. GATA4 genes regulate embryo formation, development of heart cell function, and heart cell differentiation, a process where less specialized body cells become more specialized heart cells. GATA6 genes regulate vascular smooth muscle formation in embryo development.
Stephen Duncan, DPhil, Marcus Professor of Human and Molecular Genetics and professor of cell biology neurobiology and anatomy, is the principal investigator for the grant. Dr. Duncan is also director of the College’s Regenerative Medicine Program.
In a previous study, Dr. Duncan disrupted the function of GATA4 and GATA6, which prevented heart formation in mouse embryos. The current study will use federally-approved human stem cells to determine if these genes are also required for differentiation of human heart cells, and if GATA4 and GATA6 play the same roles in all cardiac cells.