Evaluating the therapeutic potential of CDK9 inhibiting compounds in human hypertrophic cardiomyopathy using embryonic stem-cell-derived ‘mini-hearts’

The proposed research project aims to study the effects of a cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) inhibiting compounds on human cardiac muscle cells. The cells will be derived from embryonic stem
cells and propagated in a culture medium to form individual ‘mini-hearts’. The cardiac disease, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), which causes the abnormal enlargement of muscle cells, will
be induced in the mini-hearts using two hormones named Angiotensin II and Endothelin-1. As there is currently no satisfactory curative treatment for the disease, use of the CDK9 inhibiting compounds as a potential treatment for HCM will be evaluated.