Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide. However, our understanding of this disease remains limited because human heart tissues are hard to come by. Human heart cells generated from stem cells can be used to grow human heart tissues in a lab dish. This pre-clinical human heart model has allowed us to test new drugs with the potential to protect the heart from injury, as well as to study genetic mutations that can cause heart disease.
Proudly supported by the O’Brien Foundation.
Please note that we are not currently offering internships or research placements for our projects.
Current research projects
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Engineered heart tissue for disease modelling and novel target discovery
Development of effective new drug candidates that are specific and effective for humans has been severely limited and detailed characterisation of human heart disease is urgently needed. However, this has been largely impeded by the limited access to viable human heart samples and by the cellular heterogeneity of heart tissue. We have established a multicellular cardiac organoid model with an integrated vasculature and autonomic neuronal network. We hypothesise that this multicellular human cardiac organoid, constructed with human induced pluripotent stem cell derivatives, can recapitulate the cellular and microenvironment changes during cardiac injury. This study will establish a pre-clinical human heart tissue model for cardiac disease modelling and drug development that will facilitate animal-to-human translation.
We are not offering internships or research placements for this project.
Stem cell secretomeStem cells have the potential to treat heart disease by producing beneficial soluble factors and membrane-bound particles. This project aims to accelerate the development of a new, safe and minimally invasive method to deliver the beneficial proteins of stem cells to patients, using a retrievable encapsulation device that protects the transplanted cells, to allow long-term treatment for effective cardiac repair.
We are not offering internships or research placements for this project.
Unlocking the secrets of heart aging with stem cellsCardiovascular disease is the leading cause of age-related death, with conditions such as heart failure being ten times more prevalent in individuals over 75. This project will model human heart aging by generating 3D cardiac tissue derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and developing an aged ‘heart-in-a-dish’ model. Using gene editing and introducing aging-associated stressors, this project will aim to identify functional and structural changes in aged cardiomyocytes which will subsequently be used to develop novel therapeutics to mitigate age-related cardiac diseases.
We are not offering internships or research placements for this project.
Untangling the cardiac lipidome to develop new treatments for Friedreich ataxia heart diseaseFriedreich ataxia is a rare disease, although it’s the most common inherited ataxia. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Friedreich ataxia patients. The cardiac lipidome is dysregulated in Friedreich ataxia and lipids therefore could be a therapeutic target. This project will harness lipidomic profiling to investigate changes to lipid species and test novel therapeutic agents using cutting-edge stem cell and 3D cardiac organoid models.
We are not offering internships or research placements for this project.
People
+61 3 9231 2480 (Reception) +61 3 9231 4020 (Office)
Available for Student Supervision
Senior Research Officer, Cardiac Regeneration and Vascular Biology laboratories (O'Brien Department)
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Available for Student Supervision
- Dr Anida Velagic, Visiting Research Fellow (Monash MIPS)
- Dr Francesca Bolk, Visiting post-doctoral researcher (Baker)
- Mr RenJie (Jack) Phang, Research Assistant, co-lab manager
- Mr Anthony Mukhtar, Research Assistant
- Ms Yali Deng, PhD student
- Ms Li Li, PhD student
- Ms Hilary Hei Yi Woo, Masters student
- Ms Anny Nan Su, PhD student
- Ms Tayla Bishop, visiting PhD student
- Ms Kirstie XiaoRui, visiting PhD student
- Ms Xiao Hou Visiting, visiting PhD student
- Ms Pukjera Rungreang, visiting PhD student
Alumni
- Dr Damian de Santiago
- Mr Haoxiang (Alan) Zhang
- Ms Jordan Clarke
- Mr Lebei Jiao
- Mr Alexander Murdoch
- Mr Andrew Treller
- Ms Ritika Saxena
- Ms Priya Sivakumaran
- Dr Ayeshah Rosdah
- Dr Saba Naghipour
Student projects
Modelling cardiovascular diseases using human cardiac organoids
Lab: Cardiac Regeneration
Supervisor(s): Associate Professor Shiang (Max) Lim Dr Jarmon Lees
Diseases focus: Regenerative MedicineDeveloping new treatments for Friedreich ataxia heart disease
Lab: Cardiac Regeneration
Supervisor(s): Dr Jarmon Lees
Diseases focus: Healthy AgeingUnlocking the secrets of heart aging with stem cells
Lab: Cardiac Regeneration
Supervisor(s): Associate Professor Shiang (Max) Lim Dr Sebastian Bass-Stringer
Diseases focus: Regenerative MedicineSelected publications
Lyu Q*, Gong S*, Lees JG*, Yin J, Yap LW, Kong AM, Shi Q, Fu R, Zhu Q, Dyer A, Dyson J, Lim SY, Cheng W. A Soft and Ultrasensitive Force Sensing Diaphragm for Probing Cardiac Organoids Instantaneously and Wirelessly. Nat Commun 2022:13(1):7259 *joint first authors
Phang RJ, Ritchie RH, Hausenloy DJ, Lees JG, Lim SY. Cellular interplay between cardiomyocytes and non-myocytes in diabetic cardiomyopathy. Cardiovasc Res 2023:119(3):668-690.
Lees JG, Napierala M, Pébay A, Dottori M, Lim SY. Cellular pathophysiology of Friedreich’s ataxia cardiomyopathy. Int J Cardiol 2022:346:71-78.
Rosdah AA, Smiles WJ, Oakhill JS, Scott JW, Langendorff CG, Delbridge LMD, Holien JK, Lim SY. New perspectives on the role of Drp1 isoforms in regulating mitochondrial pathophysiology. Pharmacol. Ther. 2020:213:107594.
Kompa AR, Greening DW, Kong AM, McMillan PJ, Fang H, Saxena R, Wong RCB, Lees JG, Sivakumaran P, Newcomb AE, Tannous BA, Kos C, Mariana L, Loudovaris T, Hausenloy DJ, Lim SY. Sustained subcutaneous delivery of secretome of human cardiac stem cells promotes cardiac repair following myocardial infarction. Cardiovasc Res. 2021:117(3):918-929
Zhang Y, Sivakumaran P, Newcomb AE, Hernandez D, Harris N, Khanabdali R, Liu GS, Kelly DJ, Pébay A, Hewitt AW, Boyle A, Harvey R, Morrison WA, Elliott DA, Dusting GJ, Lim SY. Cardiac repair with a novel population of mesenchymal stem cells resident in the human heart. Stem Cells. 2015:33:3100-13. doi: 10.1002/stem.2101
ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0442-3655
Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-F_g4SQAAAAJ&hl=en
Related news
Rising Star fellow Jarmon Lees
Supported by a Fellowship from the Marian & E.H. Flack Trust, Dr Jarmon Lees and his team from the Cardiac Regeneration Lab are focussed on developing new treatments for its most common complication, heart disease.
Weary Dunlop Foundation supports ‘heart in a dish’ research
Dr Jarmon Lees has been awarded a Weary Dunlop Foundation grant to further his work on identifying new treatments for heart attack in people undergoing cancer treatment.