Rebuilding Broken Hearts

Studies on Egyptian Mummies have confirmed that heart disease has been affecting humans for centuries. Recently, our understanding of atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of heart disease, has rapidly progressed due to cutting edge research. Our research involves examining if specific proteins on inflammatory cells in our blood (monocyte/macrophages) determines whether macrophages are helpful or make things worse. Our goal will be to use patient’s blood or in-hospital imaging to view bad macrophages, to make informed decisions on how best to treat and prevent recurring cardiovascular disease.

The extraordinary anatomical complexity of the heart, particularly in the presence of congenital heart disease, can be better appreciated when looking at it in three dimensions. This is possible not only virtually, but also by means of 3D printing technology, that nowadays allows us to manufacture detailed replicas of patients’ hearts. This talk will present clinical uses of 3D heart models (from surgical directives to communication tools with patients), but also showcase more creative uses of the models and how they can be used to express of patients view their hearts.

Beck is a British Heart Foundation Intermediate Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. Following early work in human genetics and mouse models, she now focuses her research on the fascinating ability of adult zebrafish to regenerate damaged tissues such as the heart, skin and fins. In her talk, Beck will present her work and how cell regeneration based on an adult zebrafish model system may be beneficial for the care of clinical patients.