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$270,000 grant to help researchers discover if a heart-growth protein can halt some heart disease


July 6, 2016



Dr. Lynn Megeney, in collaboration with Dr. Duncan Stewart, has been awarded $270,000 from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada to investigate how a protein can trigger beneficial growth in heart muscle. The heart can temporarily grow in size in response to endurance exercise or pregnancy, but the mechanisms that trigger this growth are largely unknown. Preliminary tests by Dr. Megeney’s team found that treating animals with the cardiotrophin-1 protein can trigger similar growth in heart muscle. His team will test whether this protein can prevent or reduce disease progression in an animal model of right heart failure, a disease with few treatment options. They will also look at how this protein promotes muscle cell growth, and determine if there are other ways it enhances heart muscle growth or function. This is one of five Heart and Stroke Foundation grants recently awarded to researchers at The Ottawa Hospital / uOttawa.

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For further information, please contact


Amelia Buchanan
Senior Communication Specialist
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Office: 613-798-5555 x 73687
Cell: 613-297-8315
ambuchanan@ohri.ca