1. M ax D elbrück L ecture Date:June 17th, 2008 Speaker: Kenneth R. Chien MGH Cardiovascular Research Center Boston, USA Title:Toward human models of human heart disease: The islet-1 master heart progenitor story Host:Daniel Besser Supported by Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch Circle of Friends and Alumni of the MDC Toward human models of human heart disease: The islet-1 master heart progenitor story Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality in the U.S., and is a growing global health problem in developing nations. In the U.S. alone, approximately 71 million people are affected by coronary heart disease, which costs society $403.1 billion in 2003. At the same time, heart failure is the leading cause for hospitalization, and the demand for heart transplantation continues to vastly exceed the availability of donor hearts. While there is an array of medications and other treatments for heart disease, none of them are cures, and the course of the disease is relentlessly progressive. In this regard, a number of clinical trials have attempted to regenerate heart muscle after a heart attack through the use of bone marrow stem cells, but recently it is becoming clear that there is little or no evidence of muscle regeneration and the clinical results have been largely disappointing. There is now an urgent need to identify the most promising cardiovascular stem cells for achieving true muscle regeneration. At the same time, the technology of human ES cells is moving as such a rapid pace that we are in a position to develop patient specific master cardiovascular stem cells that have genetic mutations that lead to important forms of heart disease. By utilizing these stem cells as model systems, it should be possible to identify the molecular pathways that drive heart disease, and to develop specific, targeted therapy for rare and common forms of heart disease, by directly screening for both genes and drugs that can block the onset of the disease at a cellular level. At the same time, we plan to rigorously study the potential of master cardiovascular stem cells for regeneration of heart muscle and other important heart tissues, including the formation of coronary arterial blood vessels. Speaker’s background Dr. Kenneth Chien is an internationally recognized biologist specializing in cardiovascular science, as well as a pioneer in developing new therapeutic strategies to prevent the onset and progression of heart failure. Since July 2005, Ken has returned to Boston as Scientific Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School. He is a member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, where he leads the university-wide Cardiovascular Stem Cell Biology Program. Upon his return to the Harvard community, he was awarded the distinction of the first endowed chair of the Charles Addison & Elizabeth Ann Sanders Professor of Medicine. Prior to his MGH/HMS appointments, Ken directed the Institute for Molecular Medicine at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). He is a professor emeritus at UCSD, and continues his appointment as an adjunct professor of The Salk Institute.