The discovery of a genetic switch that triggers stem cells to turn into heart cells is a major step in finding treatment for damaged hearts.
Researchers from A*STAR and their colleagues in India have been investigating the molecular and genetic processes by which human embryonic stem cells differentiate into the body’s many types of cells—in particular, cardiomyocytes, or heart muscle cells.
“The effort is underway globally to find ways to differentiate these stem cells into beating functional heart muscle cells so that they can be used for cell-based therapies to treat structural abnormalities,” says Prabha Sampath, from the A*STAR Institute of Medical Biology.
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