Brett Marinelli: Differentiating Heart Cells in the Lab BACK

Published by AFAR

My MSTAR summer began with joining the Cardiovascular Research Center at Mount Sinai directed by Dr. Roger Hajjar. The group I work with focuses on the differentiation of human cardiomyocytes, heart muscle cells, from both embryonic and induced pluripotent (iPS) stem cells lines. Going in with little knowledge of either cell culturing techniques or the methods used to characterize cells, I anticipated both an exciting and challenging introduction to this area of bench-top medicine.

Now almost a month into my MSTAR research summer, I have experienced both the satisfactions and frustrations that come with the field of cell differentiation. A unique quality to cardiomyocyte differentiation is that if successful one can actually see the cells beating under the microscope. While further tests, such as PCR or Western Blots, can precisely identify mRNA and protein properties of differentiated cells, upon glimpsing that first beat of a cell, the culturalist instantly knows their protocol succeeded. Luckily, this happened with my first attempt at culturing cardiomyocytes. I felt elated and, foolishly, as if I must be a natural at differentiation. I was wrong. On my second plate I was searching my wells, waiting minutes, and observed not a single beat when I should have.

The ability to differentiate pluripotent stem cells into functional tissue, such as heart muscle (cardiomyoctes), holds promise to improve the health of aging patients. Life ending illnesses, like heart failure or neurodegenerative disease, may be treated clinically in new ways some day as researchers’ command of the differentiation improves. But as I learned trying to get a single heart cell to beat, it’ll take luck and patience.

Brett Marinelli
Mount Sinai School of Medicine

"Diary of an MSTAR Student" follows scholars in the 2012 Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program, highlighting their summer experiences. As they continue their path of research, training and clinical practice, read their daily thoughts at www.afar.org/mstarblog. New diary entries are posted every day, so check back soon.