Leducq Foundation Transatlantic Network of Excellence
Editing the Failing Heart
Genetic testing has established genome mutations as the root cause for many cardiovascular diseases, including the most deadly ones such as heart failure and arrhythmias. Targeting the mostly heritable mutations by genome editing is a novel approach to address the unmet need for therapy in affected patients. The Leducq Foundation is supporting a Transatlantic Network of Excellence comprised of investigators from Chicago (Dr. E. McNally), Dallas (Dr. E. Olson), Göttingen (Drs R. Hinkel and W.-H. Zimmermann), London (Dr. M. Giacca), Utrecht (Dr. E. van Rooij), and Worcester (Dr. E Sontheimer) to advance genome editing for the treatment of heart failure from bench to bedside.
Dr. Mauro Giacca is Professor of Cardiovascular Sciences at King’s College London. The Giacca lab is contributing its core expertise heart muscle targeted viral delivery of genome therapeutics.
Dr. Rabea Hinkel is the Director of the Department of Laboratory Animal Science at the German Primate Center in Göttingen. The Hinkel lab is contributing its core expertise in large animal models of heart disease for the late preclinical testing of genome editing therapeutics.
Dr. Elizabeth McNally, the US coordinator of the „Editing the Failing Heart” network, is the director of the Center for Genetic Medicine, at Northwestern University in Chicago. The McNally lab is contributing its core expertise in cardiovascular genetics to define human targets for therapeutic genome editing.
Dr. Eric Olson is Chair of the Department of Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The Olson lab is contributing its core expertise in advancing genome editing therapeutics from bench to bedside.
Dr. Eva van Rooij is Professor of Molecular Cardiology at the Hubrecht Institute and the University Medical Center in Utrecht. The van Rooij lab is contributing its core expertise in small animal models of heart disease for the refinement and early preclinical testing of genome editing therapeutics.
Dr. Erik Sontheimer is Professor at the RNA Therapeutic Institute of the UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester. The Sontheimer lab is contributing its core expertise in the development of genome editing tools for applications in patients with heart disease.
Dr. Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann, the European coordinator of the „Editing the Failing Heart” network, directs the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University Medical Center in Göttingen. The Zimmermann lab is contributing its core expertise in the engineering of human tissue models from induced pluripotent stem cells for the simulation of heritable and non-heritable heart diseases as well as the testing and refinement of genome editing therapeutics.