Heart Disease and Regeneration: Insights from Development (X1)

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, affecting both children and adults. It is now clear that congenital heart defects result from disorders in developmental mechanisms of differentiation and morphogenesis and that these disorders are often the consequence of genetic variation. Moreover, there is increasing evidence that these same developmental mechanisms and genetic variations contribute to heart disease throughout life, and this understanding could be leveraged for regenerative therapies. This meeting will highlight new concepts in cardiovascular development, regeneration, and repair and will emphasize common molecular mechanisms with therapeutic potential for cardiovascular regeneration. Sessions on the regulatory mechanisms of cardiac development, lineage specification, stem cell differentiation, and proliferation will integrate current insights into the molecular mechanisms connecting patterning, morphogenesis, homeostasis, and disease. Emerging technologies for genome editing and imaging will be discussed with the aim of facilitating new research directions and translational approaches. Overall, the goal of this meeting is to bring together researchers with expertise in cardiac development, molecular biology, stem cell biology, genetics, and epigenetics to facilitate our understanding of heart development and homeostasis and to explore scientific directions and therapeutic approaches for the treatment of heart disease in children and adults.