Structure and functional characterisation of human hearts
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Structure and functional characterisation of human hearts
IRAS ID
189069
Contact name
Rasheda Chowdhury
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
16/LO/1471, REC reference
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Our continuing effort has been to understand the changes which occur in the diseased human heart; which of these contribute to the clinical syndrome and which are potentially addressable therapeutically. We are focussed on contractility, electrophysiology, calcium handling and pharmacological control (especially β-adrenoceptor function). From explanted hearts we prepare intact tissue preparations and isolate cells from fresh tissue and perform immediate functional studies, as well as using frozen and fixed tissue and cells for RNA, DNA and protein expression and histology and imaging modalties for structural characterisation. A small part of this work (protocols mentioned herewith) will be carried out in the laboratories of our collaborators at Kings College London and University of Nottingham (after setting up an appropriate MTA) due to specific technologies only being available in their laboratories.
We currently obtain failing samples removed during transplant from RBHT CBRU biobank, however have no healthy samples for comparison. We aim to characterise changes that occur in cardiac disease states in order to gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms to provide targets for future treatments. Explanted donor hearts rejected for transplantation will provide control samples. The purpose of this application is to obtain these explanted donor samples.
REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1568
Date of REC Opinion
17 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion