Heart Development and Disease: From Genes to Cures - ABSTRACT
Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Heart Development and Disease: From
Genes to Cures, organized by Drs. Sean Wu, Wolfram Zimmermann and Christine Seidman. The conference
will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico from February 12-15, 2023.
Significant advances in recent years in mechanistic understanding of cardiac development, function, and
degeneration have stimulated interest in identifying novel therapeutic agents that may help treat children and
adult patients with cardiovascular diseases. However, therapies developed in cell and animal models rarely
translate well to human patients. The goals of this conference are to advance our understanding of heart
formation and homeostatic function and how derangement in these processes lead to diseases and organ
dysfunction. Since human cardiovascular tissue is difficult to obtain for experimental perturbation this
conference will address the use of a spectrum of cells and engineered tissue models as well as small and large
animal models of disease. This conference will also feature the state-of-the art tools and technologies that
have revolutionized the developments in various domains of cardiovascular research including heart
developmental biology, genetics of cardiomyopathy and congenital heart disease, cardiac tissue engineering,
and cell and regenerative therapy. This event will bring together scientists with diverse research backgrounds
who employ different tools and technologies to address mechanisms of cardiomyocyte and vascular
dysfunction and will uncover new approaches to cardiovascular biology. The program is designed to
showcase innovative, molecularly targeted strategies to treat both rare and common cardiovascular diseases.
