Team members
Genetic control of heart development
Our team studies heart development in order to identify biological mechanisms underlying organogenesis, regeneration and congenital disease.
Learning how organs form in the embryo is essential to understand the origins of congenital disease and to develop approaches for repairing adult tissue after damage. The heart is the first organ to form and function in the embryo and cardiac development involves complex interactions between genes, progenitor cell populations and inter-cellular signaling events. This complexity is reflected in the fact that congenital heart defects affect 1 in 100 births. Our group studies heart development in the mouse, where the developmental sequence of events is very similar to that in humans, focusing on two critical areas.
Firstly, we investigate the growth of the embryonic heart by progressive addition of myocardium from progenitor cells known as the second heart field (SHF). SHF derived parts of the heart are hotspots for common congenital heart defects. We study the properties of SHF cells and the mechanisms driving their deployment to the heart. The genetic program of the SHF is shared with head muscle progenitor cells, and we also investigate how a common program diverges to give rise to heart and head muscle.
Secondly, we study the development of the cardiac conduction system that forms the electrical wiring of the heart and coordinates the heartbeat. The conduction system is derived from common progenitor cells with contractile cardiomyoctyes of the heart and we investigate the cellular and genetic mechanisms required for the establishment of these specialized myocytes during normal development and under pathological conditions.
Publications
Nkx2-5 defines distinct scaffold and recruitment phases during formation of the murine cardiac Purkinje fiber network
Cardiopharyngeal mesoderm origins of musculoskeletal and connective tissues in the mammalian pharynx
Epithelial tension in the second heart field promotes mouse heart tube elongation.
Nkx2-5 defines distinct scaffold and recruitment phases during formation of the murine cardiac Purkinje fiber network
Cardiopharyngeal mesoderm origins of musculoskeletal and connective tissues in the mammalian pharynx
Defects in Trabecular Development Contribute to Left Ventricular Noncompaction
Epithelial tension in the second heart field promotes mouse heart tube elongation.
How Mesp1 makes a move
Endothelial Plasticity Drives Arterial Remodeling Within the Endocardium After Myocardial Infarction
Clonal analysis reveals a common origin between nonsomite-derived neck muscles and heart myocardium.
Inducible Cx40-Cre expression in the cardiac conduction system and arterial endothelial cells.
Hes1 expression is reduced in Tbx1 null cells and is required for the development of structures affected in 22q11 deletion syndrome.
Megavoltage planar and cone-beam imaging with low-Z targets: dependence of image quality improvement on beam energy and patient separation.
Integration of embryonic and fetal skeletal myogenic programs at the myosin light chain 1f/3f locus.
Visualization of outflow tract development in the absence of Tbx1 using an FgF10 enhancer trap transgene.
The arterial pole of the mouse heart forms from Fgf10-expressing cells in pharyngeal mesoderm.
News
Muscle formation at the head/trunk interface
Trapezius muscle development requires crosstalk between pharyngeal and somitic mesoderm in the early mouse embryo.
Cardiac regeneration leads to hyperplastic Purkinje fiber network in association with ventricular conduction disorders.
Repair of cardiac coronary using collaterals
During cardiac regeneration, collaterals form rapidly to perfuse the infarcted area and help repair the coronary artery.
Congratulations to Robert Kelly, Frank Schnorrer, Cédric Maurange, Bianca Habermann and Delphine Delacour!
A publication from the Kelly team in Nature Communications, conducted by Caroline Choquet and Lucile Miquerol, focuses on the development of cardiac Purkinje fibers that serve as electrical cables in the ventricles to synchronize heartbeats.
Cardiopharyngeal mesoderm origins of musculosketelal and connective tissues in the mammalian pharynx
In a study published in Development, Adachi et al used genetic lineage tracing to investigate the cellular origin of the throat in the mouse model.
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