Porrello laboratory: Cardiac Regeneration
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Head of Laboratory
Enzo Porrello+61 3 9936 6140
Research Overview
View Dr Porrello's latest PubMed publications listing here
Dr Enzo Porrello heads the Cardiac Regeneration Laboratory at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, and is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of Melbourne.
Our laboratory is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms that guide heart development, disease and regeneration. We have discovered that the newborn heart has a remarkable capacity to regenerate following injury, which is in stark contrast to the adult heart (Porrello et al, Science, 2011; Porrello et al, PNAS, 2013). Recent work in our laboratory has focused on the molecular dissection of the regenerative newborn heart and the non-regenerative adult heart (Quaife-Ryan et al, Circulation, 2017).
In addition, we have developed new technologies that enable disease modeling and drug screening using human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and cardiac organoids (Voges et al, Development, 2017; Mills et al, PNAS, 2017; Mills et al, Cell Stem Cell (In Press)). Our current research efforts aim to re-instate the neonatal regenerative program to facilitate heart repair in the setting of congenital and acquired heart disease.
Our laboratory uses a variety of approaches including molecular genetic studies in mice through, single cell transcriptomics, gene editing (CRISPR/Cas9) in human pluripotent stem cells, as well as disease modelling and drug screening in human cardiac organoids.
Staff
Dr Celine Vivien, Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Choon Boon (Evangelyn) Sim, Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Kwaku (Dad) Abu Bonsrah, Postdoctoral Scientist
Dr Menno ter Huurne, Postdoctoral Scientist
Dr Adam Piers, Project Co-ordinator (CardioRegen)
Julian Stolper, PhD Student
Collaborators
Dr David Elliott, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Prof Igor Konstantinov, Royal Children's Hospital
A/Prof Michael Cheung, Royal Children's Hospital
A/Prof Robert Weintraub, Royal Children's Hospital
A/Prof James Hudson, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
A/Prof Paul Gregorevic, University of Melbourne
Prof Lea Delbridge, University of Melbourne
Prof Sam El-Osta, Monash University
Dr Mirana Ramialison, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University
Funding
View Dr Porrello's Research Grant listing here.
Research Outcomes
Patents:
*Mills RJ, Titmarsh DM, Porrello ER, Hudson JE. 2016. International PCT PA-02238-WO-01. Screening device, conditions for tissue fabrication, and medium for induction of human cardiac organoid maturation.
*Quaife-Ryan, GA, Hudson JE, Porrello ER. 2017. International PCT PA-02255-WO-01. A novel therapy for cardiac regeneration through activation of beta-catenin.
*Mills RJ, Porrello ER, Hudson JE. 2018. Provisional filing P51901AU. Skeletal muscle cell maturation.