Spatially resolved cellular and molecular drivers of cardiac remodeling in healthy and failing human hearts (DZHK-BHF Cooperation)

Heart failure is a severe disease with a defective pump function that often results in heart transplantation. A heart is made of billions of cells which must properly work together. During heart failure functional changes arise due to modifications of cells that form the heart. We want to apply new leading-edge technologies to analyze thousands of individual cells at once to study the precise cell composition of different heart compartments and, importantly, the changes leading to heart failure. We expect to identify new disease markers and therapeutic targets for enlarged (dilated cardiomyopathy, DCM) and thickened (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, HCM) failing hearts. Project partner: Dr Michela Noseda, Imperial College London (The British heart Foundation provides funding of £864,825 over three years)