How macrophages help the adult heart heal
Macrophage functional dynamics in adult heart regeneration
The team is seeing if different types of immune cells called macrophages change their behavior to support healing in injured adult hearts.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Chapel Hill, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11321233 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
This project maps how macrophages and other non-muscle cells in the adult heart change their gene activity during repair using single-cell RNA sequencing and computational tools like RNA velocity and Topologizer. Researchers will define distinct macrophage states, identify regulators of mRNA processing and transcription, and test what happens to heart healing when macrophage functions are altered. The work combines cell sorting, high-resolution gene profiling, computational trajectory analysis, and experimental perturbations in lab models to trace how cell states evolve during regeneration. Results aim to reveal targets that could be modified to improve heart repair.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Adults who have experienced recent heart injury (for example a heart attack) or who can provide heart tissue or blood samples for research would be most relevant to this project.
Not a fit: People without heart injury or whose conditions are unrelated to tissue repair are unlikely to receive direct benefit from this work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to new ways to boost heart repair after injury by targeting macrophage behavior.
How similar studies have performed: Similar single-cell and macrophage-manipulation approaches have produced promising results in animal models of heart repair but have not yet become proven treatments for people.
Where this research is happening
Chapel Hill, United States
- Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill — Chapel Hill, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Liu, Jiandong — Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
- Study coordinator: Liu, Jiandong
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 below.