Modelling cardiovascular diseases using human cardiac organoids

This project aims to construct a multicellular cardiac organoid model using cardiomyocytes and non-myocyte cell populations derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells to study heart disease. 

Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide. Development of specific and effective new drug candidates has been severely limited and a more detailed characterisation of human heart disease is urgently needed. However, this has been largely impeded by the limited access to viable human heart samples and by the cellular diversity of heart tissue. Our lab has recently established a novel proprietary cardiac organoid model that contains heart cells, blood vessels and autonomic neurons completely derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. This project aims to use this new pre-clinical human model to study the pathophysiology of heart disease caused by ischaemia-reperfusion injury, diabetes and chemotherapy. 

The knowledge and skills involved in this project are suitable for students who are interested in stem cell biology, organoid research, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. A student working on this project will have the opportunity to learn various experimental skills, including: cell culture, protein and gene analysis, histology, electrophysiology and tissue engineering.