Biomedical Research and Mentoring Program ( RaMP ) Mentor Project

Myocardial infarction (MI) is the major contributor of all the cardiac associated causalities. It causes the death of tissues and scar formation in infarcted area, which leads to the cardiac remodeling, reduced heart function and, thus, cardiac failure. In contrast to cardiomyocytes (CM) of zebra fish and neonatal mice, which have ability to regenerate and repair cardiac injury; adult animals like, humans lack this ability and thus, cardiac repair after injury. Recent studies demonstrate the scope to induce the adult cardiomyocyte (ACM) cell cycle re-entry and identify the factors associated with ACM senescence phenotype that includes cell cycle inhibitors. Therefore, we are using CRISPR/Cas9 mediated knockout of cell cycle inhibitors to induce ACM proliferation, which may lead to reduced infarct size and improved heart function. It will help to extrapolate their therapeutic roles following myocardial infarction in adult animals. The under graduate student will learn genome editing, immunocytochemistry, fluorescent microscopy, PCR, and agarose gel electrophoresis.