UW Medicine – Murry Lab
Grant Recipient
For the past 15 years the Foundation has been committed to medical research centered on cardiovascular disease. Our funding has helped advance medical research and ensure that new technologies were developed to help children suffering from heart disease. While we’ve helped further the field and our work has been rewarding, the Foundation has ultimately sought a way to problem solve from the root or genetic level; with the ultimate goal of repairing the patient’s heart and avoiding transplantation altogether.
2014 marked an exciting new partnership with Dr. Charles Murry of UW Medicine whose work is focused on using stem cell technology to regenerate heart muscle. We have been following Dr. Murry’s work closely and anticipate that his work will have major impact on the field of cardiology and beyond!
More about Dr. Murry’s Lab
Dr. Charles Murry at UW Medicine is recognized as the foremost expert in utilizing stem cells to repair cardiac tissue following a myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack. Heart attacks result in damage that weakens the body’s ability to pump blood, and unlike many organs and tissue types the heart does not regenerate. In laboratory experiments, Dr. Murry and his team have discovered methods to transform stem cells into functioning cardiac muscle cells, which can be transplanted directly into the heart to form new heart cells. This work has profound implications for regenerating the human heart, and Dr. Murry anticipates that within the next four years his findings will lead to the first clinical trial in the world showing the therapeutic value of stem-cell derived heart cells.
