How does ageing affect the heart's response to heart attack?

Research Opportunity: Honours students
Number of Honour Places Available: 1
Department / Centre: Baker Department of Cardiometabolic Health
Location: Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute

Primary Supervisor	Email	Number	Webpage
A/Professor Anna Calkin	anna.calkin@baker.edu.au		Personal web page

Co-supervisor	Email	Number	Webpage
Dr Adele Richart	adele.richart@baker.edu.au		Personal web page

Summary This project focuses on establishing the effect of age on the heart's responses to a heart attack. This will allow us to identify novel, age-specific targets for the development of new treatments adapted to our elderly population who have had a heart attack.

Project Details

Decades of research have examined strategies to protect the heart after an heart attack (myocardial infarction, MI). In particular, anti-inflammatory strategies have been shown to improve heart function and healing of the heart in animal models. Unfortunately, these strategies have failed to show benefit in humans, and no treatments are currently available for heart recovery post-MI. This may relate to the fact that most of preclinical animal studies have been conducted on animals of a young age equivalent to teenager, whereas 90% of Australian who suffered from MI were over the age of 55. Indeed, we know that the elderly have increased risk for having a MI, and also a higher mortality rate following a MI.

Hypothesis: The aged heart responds to myocardial infarction differently than the young heart. By identifying these novel mechanisms, we will be able to develop new treatments directed at age-specific targets for elderly individuals with MI.

Approach: Using a preclinical mouse model, this project will characterise the effect of age on the inflammatory response after heart attack, by comparing old and young mice. It will determine whether inflammation in particular is associated with the poor recovery of aged mice following a MI. To do this, we will use a range of discovery approaches including large-scale analysis of >700 lipids and >2000 proteins in the hearts of young and aged mice.

This project has great potential for identifying novel age-specific targets for the development of new treatments adapted to our elderly population with myocardial infarction.

School Research Themes

Cardiometabolic

Research Opportunities

Honours students
Students who are interested in joining this project will need to consider their elegibility as well as other requirements before contacting the supervisor of this research

Graduate Research application

Honours application

Key Contact

For further information about this research, please contact a supervisor.

Department / Centre

Baker Department of Cardiometabolic Health

Research Group / Unit / Centre

Lipid Metabolism and Cardiometabolic Disease Group

Research Node

Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute

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