2019 participants
Rahul Gogi
Congenital heart defects are the most abnormalities seen in new born babies, affecting almost 1% of infants. In most cases, we do not the cause of the problem, although it is likely that many result from a gene defect. It has been suggested that many of these defects result from disruption of the system that distinguishes the left from the right side of the body. This is important as many important organs, including the heart, are reproducibly found on only one side of the body. We are interested in a gene called Inversin that is important for setting up left-right differences. Mice lacking this gene have defects in organ positioning but also develop heart defects of unknown origin. The student will examine the expression of this gene in mouse and human embryonic hearts. This will be the first step towards understanding how its loss causes congenital heart defects.
Funding source: Newcastle University
Project Supervisor: Professor Deborah Henderson