Gianfranco Matrone Research Group

Information on the research interests, projects, and members of Gianfranco Matrone's research group

Gianfranco Matrone

Chancellor's Fellow

Research

When the heart is damaged, for example after a heart attack, many heart cells die and are replaced by other cells called fibroblasts. These form an area of scar tissue, which cannot carry out the same functions as heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes). This not only weakens heart contraction but may also cause abnormal heart rhythms, which can lead to sudden death. Proliferation of cardiomyocytes and the development of new blood vessels are essential for heart repair and regeneration following a heart attack, but current therapies are not sufficient to restore heart function.

Zebrafish retain a lifelong ability to regenerate the heart after injury and newborn mice have the same ability up to one week after birth. If we can understand how they do this, we could translate that knowledge into new and more effective therapies to treat damaged hearts in humans.

The Matrone Group uses in vivo and in vitro models to unravel the molecular mechanisms that regulate the activity of cardiac and vascular cells during cardiovascular development, repair, and regeneration. A key aspect of the group's research is to understand the role played in tissue regeneration by post-translational modifications – where a protein produced by the cell undergoes subsequent chemical changes.

The Matrone Group's strategy minimises the use of animals in research by adopting the principles of the three Rs: replacement, reduction, and refinement.

A close-up image of a zebrafish heart, showing heart muscle cells in the process of dividing

The image above is a close-up of a zebrafish heart, showing heart muscle cells in the process of dividing. Cardiomyocytes are shown in green, with their cell nuclei in blue. The nuclei of proliferating cardiomyocytes are shown in magenta.

This video sequence shows how the heart ventricle in a zebrafish embryo responds to injury by a pulse of laser light (pink dot at the centre of the image). A single laser pulse, using the XYClone Laser Ablator, results in instantaneous cardiac injury, which is associated with marked slowing of the heart rate and gradual recovery of cardiac rhythm over the next few minutes.

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