Stem Cell Use: Embryonic Stem Cell Regenerative therapies could
be particularly beneficial for heart disease, which is the
leading killer of adults in the U.S, and is responsible for the
5 million Americans with insufficient cardiac function. At the
other end of the age spectrum, malformations of the heart
involving abnormal cell lineage or morphogenetic decisions are
the leading noninfectious cause of death in children.
Unfortunately, since adult heart cells cannot multiply after
birth, the heart has almost no regenerative capacity after
injury or in response to malformations. Deciphering the secrets
of heart formation might lead to novel approaches to repair or
regenerate damaged heart muscle using embryonic stem cells
(ESCs) and progenitor cells. Our research is focused on
determining what causes ESCs to specialize into cells that
belong to the mesodermal, or middle, layer of an embryo, which
develops into blood, muscle, and bone, among other cells, with a
specific focus on cues that stimulate cardiac and