Molecular basis of inherited heart disease v1 347017 30/01/25

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    The molecular basis of inherited heart disease: Structural and cellular characterisation cardiac muscle.

  • IRAS ID

    347017

  • Contact name

    Danielle Paul

  • Contact email

    danielle.paul@bristol.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University of Bristol

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    3 years, 5 months, 31 days

  • Research summary

    Inherited cardiomyopathies are the leading cause of sudden death in young adults. Our research aims to understand the underlying biological mechanisms that go wrong in the human heart when a patient has such a condition. The use of high-resolution microscopy techniques gives us the ability to calculate 3D models of cardiac muscle proteins that are known to contain disease causing mutations. By studying the 3D structure of native proteins from tissue from patients with known genetic mutations we can unravel the underlying molecular mechanisms involved.
    We intend to study the molecular structure and cellular composition of human cardiac tissue originating from the Sydney Biobank. This tissue was collected from consented patients with known mutations that cause cardiomyopathy. The tissue was extracted from explanted hearts and the control tissue from failed donor hearts.
    The reuse of these samples will allow us to advance our knowledge of this progressive disease and importantly further our aim of structure based drug design.

  • REC name

    Wales REC 4

  • REC reference

    25/WA/0063

  • Date of REC Opinion

    18 Feb 2025

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion