Eldad Tzahor
Country:
Israel
Eldad Tzahor’s team centers its research on studying innovative mechanisms of cardiac regeneration and repair after an injury, a major challenge in current biomedical research. His laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Rehovot (Israel), combines innovative approaches to study cardiac regeneration in mammals, such as the role of the signaling pathway NRG1-ErbB2. In addition, they research the cardiac microenvironment as a means to improve the regenerative capacity of the heart and are manipulating the biophysical properties of the cardiac microenvironment (for example, the rigidity of the matrix) and its biochemical entities in search of conditions that facilitate cardiac repair mechanisms. Furthermore, they have also discovered that the Agrin protein can induce the regeneration of the heart of mammals, so it could have a great therapeutic potential for the treatment of ischemic heart disease. Their current studies examine the therapeutic effects of Agrin, whose administration in the injured heart of pigs causes a significant regenerative response. These findings will have implications for the improvement of current strategies to treat heart disease in humans.