Title: New approaches to study cardiomyocyte proliferation, where molecular biology meets electrophysiology

Abstract:

The heart regenerative capacity is limited to a few days after birth when it declines significantly to become almost non-detectable in adult hearts. The reactivation of cardiomyocyte proliferation holds great therapeutic potential and Prof. Giacca’s lab has identified several miRNAs able to boost this process. By using human living myocardial slices we aim at demonstrating that the adult cardiomyocytes of failing myocardium can re-enter the cell cycle and proliferate opening new frontiers for the clinical applications of regenerative therapies. The laboratory has also developed CycleTrack, a method for genetic labelling of cardiomyocytes undergoing mitosis. CycleTrack has the great advantage of allowing live cell imaging and therefore be used for electrophysiological studies. Understanding the electrophysiological changes occurring in adult cardiomyocytes during cytokinesis and maturation and how they differ from the surrounding cardiomyocytes is essential to identifying new regulators and developing new regenerative strategies. 

Speaker: Dr Filippo Perbellini

Biography: 

Filippo graduated in Medical Biotechnologies from Milan University (Italy) and completed his PhD in Cardiovascular Science under the supervision of Prof Kieran Clarke, Carolyn Carr and Giuseppe Faggian (Oxford University and Verona University) and investigated the effect of high fat diet on cardiac and adipose mesenchymal cells. In 2014 he moved to Prof. Cesare Terracciano’s laboratory at Imperial College London as a Post-doctoral Fellow and he was part of the British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine Centre focusing on electrophysiology and its application to multicellular cardiac models, particularly on living myocardial slices. In 2019 he moved to Hannover Medical School where he was a group leader in Prof. Thomas Thum Laboratory expanding his science to genetic manipulation of cardiac tissue. In October 2020 he joined Sana Biotechnology as Principal Scientist- Integrative Cardiac Electrophysiologist and he was part of the Cardiac Cell Therapy Research team led by Prof Charles Murry where he was in charge of the large animal studies to better understand cardiac remuscularization and engraftment arrhythmias. In June 2023 he joined Prof. Mauro Giacca’s laboratory as Senior Research Fellow where he is continuing his interest in cardiac regeneration with a focus on cardiomyocyte proliferation. 

This event is in-person and online