Glasgow Perfused Human Hearts
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Ex-vivo human heart perfusion: establishing a model for experimental cardiovascular research
IRAS ID
337415
Contact name
Rachel Myles
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Golden Jubilee
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Cardiovascular disease is a major global health challenge with new treatments urgently needed across a range of conditions. Research to understand these conditions and identify new targets for treatment is limited by the fact that researchers must study cells and hearts from animals. Differences between species mean that findings from these animal hearts may not “translate” to be useful in humans. While human hearts are not widely available, when a patient is considered for organ donation, families can consent to any organs unsuitable for transplantation being used in research. Hearts made available by families in this way are a precious resource but are currently used only infrequently in research and instead are discarded. In this study we will develop a process to bring these human hearts into routine use in research. We will establish a pathway to bring these hearts to our labs at the University of Glasgow and perfuse them to allow scientific research studies. We anticipate that if successful, access to perfused human heart tissues could be offered to researchers regionally and nationally, and that we could also extend our capability to study failing hearts which are removed from patients undergoing cardiac transplant.
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/PR/0063
Date of REC Opinion
24 Jan 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion