Rabea Hinkel and Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann discuss the heart patch on the Leibniz Association’s “Tonspur Wissen” podcast
More than three million people in Germany suffer from heart failure, often caused by calcified coronary arteries and associated heart attacks, which cause lasting damage to the heart muscle tissue. Treatment options have been very limited so far, and in the worst-case scenario, a heart transplant is the only option. Wouldn’t it be great if we could simply repair damaged hearts?
The heart patch offers a genuine treatment alternative here. It is grown in a laboratory from stem cells, sutured onto the damaged heart muscle tissue, and thus supports the heart’s pumping function.
In the podcast, Rabea Hinkel, head of the Department of Laboratory Animal Science at the DPZ, and Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann, director of the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University Medical Center Göttingen, speak with science journalist Ursula Weidenfeld about the concept, development, and successful use of the heart patch in patients.
Here you can find the podcast (in German).
The heart patch is produced from induced pluripotent stem cells derived heart muscle cells in a collagen hydrogel. Illustration: umg/eva meyer-besting
