Kids Heart Research
Head of laboratory
On this page:
Overview
Kids Heart Research is a team of scientists and doctors working together to address clinical problems in the area of cardiac health. Congenital heart diseases affect one in every 100 children, with problems ranging from ‘holes in the heart’ to more complex conditions.
Its research efforts are focused on two main areas: improving our understanding of the genetic basis of congenital heart disease, and finding ways to make heart surgery safer and more effective.
Research achievements
Water accumulation in the body’s tissues, including the heart, was traditionally thought to contribute to poor recovery after surgery. Using a range of experimental models, Kids Heart Research has demonstrated that the link between swelling and impaired heart function is not as important as previously thought. The work highlighted the detrimental effect of depriving the heart of its usual blood supply (ischaemia).
It is likely that the way infant cardiac surgery is conducted will be altered as a result of these important findings. Ongoing research is focused on reducing the impact of ischaemia, which is a necessary part of open heart surgery, to speed recovery and ultimately make surgery safer. The most exciting development in this area is a therapy new to paediatric cardiac surgery that is currently being tested in a pre-clinical trial.
In addition to many local collaborative projects, Kids Heart Research has contributed hundreds of samples from the Kids Heart Research DNA bank to two multi-centre international genetics studies. Both investigations will perform genome-wide association analyses that aim to discover new genes associated with the development of congenital heart disease.
Other work centres on how having a heart problem can affect children in the long term. Kids Heart Research is working closely with the Grace Centre for Newborn Care to track the development of children who underwent heart surgery in the first 90 days of life. This study involves detailed follow-up of children to preschool age, including intricate brain imaging.
