In the News
Change in how the heart produces energy may be key to preventing heart failure
Interview by SICKKIDS NEWSROOM
We spoke with SickKids about our finding that decreased energy production initiates cardiac deterioration toward dilated cardiomyopathy leading to heart failure. We established a new mouse model of heart failure in which disrupting removal of a histone methyl mark in cardiomyocytes decreases mitochondrial function before the heart adversely remodels. A multiomics approach revealed repressed NAD+ synthesis due to abnormal activation of the transcriptional repressor Tbx15 as the underlying pathway. This finding focuses future research toward identification of individuals at a higher risk of heart failure and early its prevention.
The people behind the papers: Lijun Chi and Paul Delgado-Olguin
Interview by THE NODE
We wrote about our findings demonstrating that the histone methyltransferase G9a controls a transcriptional pathway that activates Notch signaling to promote maturation of the placental vasculature. Moreover, we found that imbalanced proliferation of placental endothelial cells and trophoblast precedes placental defects caused by abnormal vascular maturation. These findings lay the groundwork to identify early signs and prevent the negative effects of placental dysfunction.
Gene switch ‘key to heart health’
Interview by BBC News
We spoke about our discovery that failing to repress a key transcriptional pathway by the histone methyltransferase Ezh2 in differentiating cardiac progenitor cells during early embryogenesis leads to adult-onset heart disease. These findings lay the groundwork to discover the embryonic determinants of adult-onset heart disease.