How to become a heart cell: Benoit Bruneau

Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease

Sept. 1, 2013 (Hosted by Osama Ahmed)

Our bodies are made up of around 200 different cell types with very different structures and functions. Paradoxically, every cell contains the same genetic material. During development, proteins called transcription factors turn specific genes on and off. This can force a cell to develop into a brain cell rather than a skin cell, for example. But, when the right genes fail to turn on or when the wrong genes are expressed, developmental defects can occur.

Our guest this month, Dr. Benoit Bruneau, a Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease, wants to know what makes a heart cell a heart cell. His lab is interested in how these different regulators interact, which factors are required for proper heart development, and which are altered in disease. This work answers important questions about how genes direct development, and it has potential applications for future therapies for heart disease.

More on the Bruneau Lab's research

Regenerating the heart: Deepak Srivastava

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in men and women, and congenital heart defects affect about 1 out of every 100 babies worldwide. Our guest, Dr. Deepak Srivastava, a professor of pediatrics and the director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease at UCSF, is focused on changing that statistic.

By studying how stem cells in the developing embryo transform into heart cells, Dr. Srivastava hopes to find out what causes children to be born with heart abnormalities. Additionally, by understanding how nature develops healthy heart cells, research in the Srivastava lab may soon lead to new therapies for patients with heart disease. His lab has already found a way to guide non-muscle cells in the heart into fully functional, beating muscle cells in mice. He hopes to move these strategies into clinical human studies in the future.

At the end of our talk, Dr. Srivastava gives his most important advice for an aspiring, young scientist.

More on the Srivastava Lab's research
Hosted by Karuna Meda

Mef2a and muscle regeneration: Christine Snyder

Even exercise can damage your muscles. Muscle cells then need to regenerate to keep you healthy. This month, we talk with Christine Snyder, a graduate student in the lab of Frank Naya at Boston University who studies how muscle regrowth is regulated.

Her work in the Naya lab focuses on a transcription factor (a protein that interacts with the DNA to affect gene transcription) known as Mef2A. Her lab studies mice that lack this transcription factor and show specific deficits in muscle development. She also explains how a technique called RNA interference can be used to silence certain genes to determine their function in cell cultures or animal models. Christine’s work has important implications for manipulating muscle regeneration after disease or injury.

More on the Naya Lab's research