VCCRI Research

Although the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute conducts research into all forms of heart disease, it is the only one in Australia with a primary focus on heart muscle diseases. These diseases cause heart failure, which is a condition that limits the heart's ability to pump sufficient blood around the body to match our activity-needs. Heart muscle diseases cause us to be very breathless with even the slightest exertion and, in its severest from, requires a heart transplant for survival.

Heart failure can affect people of all ages and both sexes, is the commonest cause for admission to hospital for people over 65 years, and weekly causes the death of more than 200 Australians.

Established in 1994 with just one basic science laboratory, the VCCRI has grown rapidly in its fifteen years of operation, and today runs five research divisions, overseeing 15 independent research laboratories. These programs address important contemporary problems, such as heart development and congenital heart disease, inherited heart diseases, and the regulation of heart function in response to stresses, such as high blood pressure and aging.

Below is an overview of the broad aims of each of the research programs at the VCCRI, with the combined vision of reducing the incidence and severity of heart muscle diseases.

Molecular Cardiology & Biophysics Division

This Program involves two research laboratories headed by Professor Robert Graham and  A/Professor Diane Fatkin.

The aim of the Molecular Cardiology Program is to investigate and understand how various heart muscle diseases are affected by different genes, hormones and growth factors.

Understanding how different genes play a role in the development of heart muscle diseases is important, since this should allow genetic tests to be developed that one day will permit us to predict which people are more likely to develop such a condition. In the long term, identification of disease-causing genes should also help in the design of drug therapies that may assist in either the prevention, or control of heart disease.

Both the moment-to moment and long term regulation of heart function are controlled by hormonal and growth factor signals.  By investigating the molecular mechanisms by which heart muscle cells perceive and respond to these signals, it is hoped that new treatments will be developed to increase heart function, providing heart patients with a better quality of life and a better chance of survival.

To learn more about this program and the individual aims of each research laboratory, follow the links to the Molecular Cardiology Division.

Developmental Biology Division

This Program involves three research laboratories, headed by Professor Richard Harvey, Dr Sally Dunwoodie.

Understanding heart development is relevant not only to problems causing congenital heart diseases, but also to adult heart diseases.  Interestingly, when the heart is stressed it begins to produce proteins that are otherwise only found in the immature developing heart.

The aim of the Developmental Biology Division is to understand how different genes function and work together to affect the overall development of an animal and its organs. When we understand these genetic pathways, scientists at the VCCRI will be one step closer towards understanding how congenital birth defects occur not only in animals, but also in humans, with the long-term possibility of developing strategies to predict their occurrence and to treat them.

To learn more about this program and the individual aims of each research laboratory, follow the links to the Developmental Biology Division.

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Cardiac Physiology & Transplantation Division

This Program involves two research laboratories, headed by Professor Michael Feneley and Associate Professor David Muller.

The basic function of the heart is to contract and pump blood around the body. Because the heart is a muscle, its ability to pump blood efficiently around the body can be directly affected by different conditions and situations.

Therefore, understanding how the heart's ability to contract is affected by changes in pressure, electrical stimulation, and hormones is critical for the management of patients with heart muscle disease - this is the main aim of the Cardiovascular Mechanics Program.

By understanding the contractile properties of the heart, scientists at the VCCRI hope to develop mechanisms and therapies to assist in monitoring and stabilising the diseases that affect heart function.

To learn more about this program and the individual aims of each research laboratory, follow the links to the Cardiac Physiology & Transplantation Division.

Cardiac Physiology & Transplantation Division

This Program is jointly headed by Associate Professor Anne Keogh and Associate Professor Peter Macdonald.

Heart transplantation remains the major form of treatment for patients with severe heart failure.  However, a major limitation to the long term survival of patient's with a heart transplant is the development of obstructions in the arteries of the heart (coronary artery disease).

Work conducted by the Transplant Program is focused on the development of new treatments and methodologies to prolong patient survival and prevent the occurrence of coronary artery disease.  The Program also focuses on the preservation of donor organs, a critical factor in determining the success of an organ transplant.  This research will lead to better patient outcomes and better long-term survival of heart transplant patients.
 
To learn more about this research program and its other areas of interest, follow the links to the Cardiac Physiology & Transplantation Division.

Molecular Genetics Division

This program is headed by Dr Thomas Preiss.

The aim of the Molecular Genetics program is to understand how genes are regulated.  It is well known that after birth, heart muscle cells lose their ability to divide, resulting in a limited ability for the heart to repair itself after injury.  Heart muscle cells cannot divide because the genes that are required for their regeneration are switched off.  Why are they switched off?  What regulates this process?  These are some of the driving questions that the Molecular Genetics Program is attempting to answer.

To learn more about this research program and its other areas of interest, follow the links to the Molecular Genetics Division.

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Cardiac Physiology & Transplantation Division

This program is headed by Professor Michael O'Rourke, and studies the effects of human aging and disease on human arteries. In particularly, the effects of the stiffening of the artery walls, a result of both the aging process and arterial disease, and its impact on the arteries primary function of carrying blood from the heart to the rest of the body are studied.

This Program also investigates the effects of the stiffening of the artery walls on the load capacity and ability of the heart to function normally.

To learn more about this research program and its other areas of interest, follow the links to the Cardiac Physiology & Transplantation Division.

Structural & Computational Biology Division

In today's age of information technology, scientists are entering a new era of information sharing.

This research program largely uses computers to access scientific databases from around the world, which contain information on particular molecules involved in both the normal functioning of the body, and its disordered function when effected by  disease.

Scientists at the VCCRI are developing innovative research methodologies, and with the use of sophisticated computer technology, are able to build visualisations of these molecules that allow them to understand the molecules in a more intuitive way.

To learn more about this research program and its other areas of interest, follow the links to the Structrual & Computational Biology Division.

Molecular Cardiology & Biophysics Division

This Program involves two laboratories headed by Professor Terry Campbell and Dr Jamie Vandenberg.

The co-ordinated spread of electrical impulses down the heart is required for it to pump blood efficiently.  If this process becomes disordered, the heart pumps inefficiently or may even stop, resulting in sudden death.  Indeed, such an event is the cause of death in approximately 50% of people with heart failure, and at present there is no way to predict which of these people are at particular risk. 

The aim of the Electrophysiology and Biophysics Program is to investigate and understand diseases and drugs that cause these electrical impulses to become disordered.

To learn more about this program and the individual aims of each research laboratory, follow the links to the Molecular Cardiology & Biophysics Division.

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