How heart valves form before birth in babies with congenital heart disease
Official title: Prenatal valve formation in congenital heart disease
Funded at Oregon Health & Science University · NIH-11323549 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how abnormal blood flow before birth changes the developing aortic and pulmonary valves in babies with Tetralogy of Fallot.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Oregon Health & Science University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Portland, United States) |
| Project start | June 1, 2023 |
| Project end | April 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $385,000 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL170097-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11323549 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Families affected by Tetralogy of Fallot—including pregnant people with a prenatal TOF diagnosis and parents of newborns with TOF—are the most directly relevant group for the results of this research.
✕Less likely to help
People with unrelated heart conditions or adult-onset valve disease are unlikely to see direct, immediate benefits from this fetal-focused basic research.
What this research studies
Researchers will use a chick embryo model that reproduces the heart shape and blood-flow patterns seen in human fetuses with Tetralogy of Fallot and will follow valve and artery development over time while the embryos remain in their eggs. They will perform in‑egg imaging to watch how valve leaflets and the great arteries remodel under altered blood flow. The team will study how key structural proteins like collagen and elastin organize and how smooth muscle cells form in response to those flow changes. Findings will be compared to known human valve structure to help link the lab results to human fetal heart disease.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could reveal why valves and arteries become damaged before birth in Tetralogy of Fallot and point toward earlier or more targeted ways to protect or treat valve problems.
How similar studies have gone: Prior animal and laboratory studies have shown that blood flow influences valve development, but applying detailed flow-driven remodeling insights specifically to prenatal Tetralogy of Fallot is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Rugonyi, Sandra — Oregon Health & Science University
- Study coordinator: Rugonyi, Sandra
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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.