San Francisco, Australian researchers targeting childhood heart disease with stem cells, AI

NEW YORK - Researchers in the U.S. and Australia have launched a new collaboration to solve childhood heart disease.

The global research program involves the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne and the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, with researchers working to identify the genetic causes of infant heart disease and develop new treatments for it through the use of stem cells and AI technology.

"These types of approaches will really allow us to pinpoint the underlying causes of childhood heart disease so that we can intervene early with targeted treatments that would prevent the heart from failing and prevent the need for transplantation," Professor Enzo Porrello, the director of Stem Cell Medicine at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, said in an interview this week. 

Researchers are developing miniature beating heart tissues from stem cells, which help them understand the underlying causes of childhood heart disease and develop new treatments.

Porrello said AI will play a huge role in their research.

"We can really generate huge amounts of data that tell us about how the heart might respond to different genetic causes of heart disease, how an individual's heart might respond to a particular drug or a new treatment. And then we can use these tools to predict and tailor the right drug to the right patient," he added.

The stem cell expertise from MCRI combined with the AI expertise of the Gladstone Institutes is ushering in a new era of pediatric medicine.