NCE Year 3

Over the course of the past 3 years, we have collected blood samples from over 500 patients with heart failure without a clear genetic cause. We also shared de-identified clinical information about the patients who donated these samples. These samples will be used to make induced pluripotent stem cells, which are human cells that can divide into many other cell types such as heart, nerve or liver cells. These cells express the original genetic information of the person who originally donated the blood, in other words the beating heart cells created from this technology are very similar to the heart cells in the body of the original sample donor. This is a useful way of studying diseased heart cells and understanding how they differ from normal heart cells. This is especially useful in studying diseases that run in families but the genetic cause is unknown. The samples collected by our group will form a unique bio-bank of cells that have complete clinical information about the patients who donated them, which means that a scientists can study the heart cells in a dish knowing the clinical disease information about the cells. The bank of cells that have so far been created by this study will create a tremendous resource for scientists to study heart failure and develop new treatments for it.