Decoding early heart development to help congenital heart defects
Official title: Early cardiac progenitors
Funded at J. David Gladstone Institutes · NIH-11382311 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Researchers study how early heart-determining transcription factors shape heart formation to better understand congenital heart defects in children.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | J. David Gladstone Institutes NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Francisco, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2013 |
| Project end | July 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $718,069 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL114948-14 |
| Project ID | NIH-11382311 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are children with or at risk for congenital heart defects or researchers studying early heart development using human or animal models.
✕Less likely to help
This research is basic science and may not directly benefit a specific patient during the study period.
What this research studies
This project looks at how key heart-related transcription factors control the first steps of heart formation by examining mouse embryos and zebrafish models, using advanced sequencing and machine-learning tools. The goal is to map which genes are turned on or off in different heart chambers during early development and how disruptions may lead to birth defects. By testing regulatory elements in zebrafish, the work aims to connect basic biology to human heart disease, with potential implications for future diagnostics or therapies. Participation would involve contributing tissue samples or data as part of the partner institutions’ research activities, under strict ethical guidelines.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: A clearer picture of how congenital heart defects arise could lead to earlier diagnosis or new strategies for prevention or treatment in children.
How similar studies have gone: Similar multiomics and cross-species approaches have yielded new insights into heart development and disease in prior research.
Where this research is happening
-
J. David Gladstone Institutes
San Francisco, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Bruneau, Benoit Gaetan — J. David Gladstone Institutes
- Study coordinator: Bruneau, Benoit Gaetan
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
HOPE: a new approach to silencing HIV and preventing rebound
A large NIH grant is testing a combination strategy to turn off HIV genes in people on treatment so the virus stays gone and health improves.
-
Undo HIV: Understanding and targeting the active HIV reservoir
Aims to map and ultimately eliminate the HIV cells that stay active despite therapy to improve long-term control of HIV in people living with HIV.
-
TREM2 and TYROBP in Alzheimer's brain network changes
This grant looks at how microglial proteins TREM2 and TYROBP influence brain network excitability in people with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
-
Commensal respiratory viruses and how they interact with the human airway
A small NIH grant is exploring how the normal viruses living in our airways interact with our cells to stay harmless and support healthy breathing.
-
Targeted delivery systems to edit blood stem cells
Aims to safely deliver genome-editing tools to blood stem cells to treat diseases like acute myeloid leukemia.
-
Regionally Specific Transplants to Restore Breathing After Cervical Spine Injury
A patient-focused look at a study that aims to repair breathing circuits after cervical spinal cord injury using stem-cell–derived nerve cells and targeted neuromodulation.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.