Head – David Kaye
Research across this laboratory aims to find ways of stopping the deterioration of heart failure patients through a range of means - from better understanding the cellular mechanisms involved in the process of heart failure itself to developing therapeutic devices to improve the health of those living with the condition.
Heart failure is a debilitating, progressive condition that can begin as a response to injury of the heart muscle, for example after heart attack. Heart failure has devastating consequences for patients, representing a host of secondary conditions that result from the failing heart’s inability to adequately pump blood around the body. It is the third largest cause of death among the various forms of cardiovascular disease in Australia, and the major cause of disability in the elderly.
The broad work of David’s team is centred on understanding the processes of heart failure in order to identify those who might be at risk of the condition and to halt its progression in those already suffering. In extreme cases, heart failure patients require heart transplants if they are to have any chance of survival. The cardiac surgery laboratory works on ways of improving the health of people who must undergo surgery for heart failure and other cardiac disease.
The research of this team ranges from work on the cellular, molecular and genetic underpinnings of the progression from initial heart muscle damage to heart failure, to large animal studies with immediate clinical relevance and the development of therapeutic devices to improve the lives of those living with the condition. Our labs are studying the mechanics of the heart and heart muscle across a range of disciplines.
Projects underway include studies of the enlarged heart (cardiac hypertrophy) – why it is beneficial to athletes but a harmful development in heart failure; the effects of diabetes on the muscle of the heart; the effects of the hormone relaxin on fibrotic heart tissue and the investigation of better cardiac surgical techniques.