Funding opportunities  Chemical Genetic Approach to Production
of hESC-derived Cardiomyocytes  Funding Type:  Comprehensive
Grant Grant Number:  Principle Investigator:  Funds requested: 
$3 036 002 Funding Recommendations:  Grant approved:  Public
Abstract:  Adult heart muscle cells retain negligible
proliferative capacity and this underlies the inability of the
heart to replace muscle cells that are lost to injury, such as
infarct, and underlies progression to heart failure. To date, no
stem cell therapiy has produced significant cardiomyocyte
replacement. Instead, transplanted cells, if they persist at
all, produce endothelial cells or fibroblasts and the
ameliorating effects on heart function that have been reported
have been achieved by improving contractility, perfusion or
other processes that are impaired in the failing heart. This
proposal is to develop specific reagents and ultimately drugs to
stimulate regeneration. Our approach integrates advances in stem
cell biology, high-throughput (HT) biology,