SEMINAR: �Turning Back the Cardiac Regenerative Clock: Lessons from the Neonate�

I received my Ph.D. from The University of Melbourne in 2009, where I studied the developmental origins of cardiac hypertrophy under the supervision of Prof. Lea Delbridge and Prof. Walter Thomas. Following my Ph.D., I undertook postdoctoral training at UT Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, USA) in the laboratory of Dr. Eric Olson, where I was supported by a co-funded overseas postdoctoral fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council and National Heart Foundation of Australia. During the course of my postdoctoral research at UT Southwestern, I discovered that the neonatal mammalian heart has an intrinsic capacity for regeneration following injury and I subsequently received the UT Southwestern Postdoctoral Achievement Award in recognition of this work. Supported by fellowships from the NHMRC/NHF and UQ, I relocated to the University of Queensland in 2012 to head the Cardiac Regeneration Group in the School of Biomedical Sciences. My lab at UQ aims to unravel the molecular mechanisms that regulate cardiac regenerative capacity in mammals.

The inability of the adult mammalian heart to regenerate following injury represents a substantial barrier in cardiovascular medicine. Using a surgical amputation model, we recently discovered that the neonatal mammalian heart has significant regenerative potential for a short period after birth. A major unresolved question is whether the neonatal heart can also regenerate following myocardial ischaemia, the most common antecedent of heart failure in humans. Here, I will outline recent studies examining the regenerative capacity of the neonatal mouse heart following myocardial infarction and I will highlight advances in our understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing heart regeneration in mammals.