Keystone Symposia Conference on Heart Development and Disease: From Genes to Cures

April 4, 2023

Earlier this Spring, several members of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute gathered with international experts in cardiovascular research at the Keystone Symposia Conference on Heart Development and Disease: From Genes to Cures. This purpose of this meeting was to spotlight current interdisciplinary and translational efforts to better understand the causes of congenital and adult heart diseases, as well as to develop innovative therapeutic strategies for these diseases. Many different, multinational voices participated in this meeting and catalyzed conversations about future research directions.

Joseph C. Wu, MD, PhD, presents the Keynote address at the 2023 Keystone Symposium on Heart Development and Disease: from Genes to Cures.

A highlight of the meeting was the Keynote address by Joseph C. Wu, MD, PhD on “iPSC Modeling of Congenital Heart Disease for Precision Medicine.”  Dr. Wu outlined the perspectives and challenges of induced pluripotent stem cell models for drug discovery, elucidating disease mechanisms, and serving as therapeutics in clinical trials. He also focused on the novel interplay of sequencing technologies, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tools, and stem cell technologies to address the challenges of future academic medicine.

The meeting covered a broad range of topics, including 1) mechanisms of cardiogenesis and congenital heart disease, 2) the role of epigenetics in heart development and disease, 3) cardiomyopathies: from genes to therapy, 4) resolving the transcriptional landscape of the heart at single-cell resolution, 5) engineered cardiac tissues for disease modelling, and 6) therapeutic approaches to cardiac repair and regeneration. In addition to the scientific sessions, the symposia offered a career roundtable and three

workshops about “Mechanisms of Cardiac Development and Disease,“ “Resolving the Genotype-Phenotype Conundrum in Congenital Heart Diseases and Inherited Cardiomyopathies,” and “Challenges and Opportunities in 2D and 3D Models of Cardiac Disease for Therapeutic Development.” Furthermore, Sean M. Wu, MD, PhD, organized an additional interactive session in which three subgroups discussed the advantages and disadvantages of embryo, organoid, and engineered tissue models.

Several key priorities for future research efforts emerged as a result of the stimulating presentations and discussions at this meeting. One priority for future research is the need to optimize the integration of groundbreaking innovations in different disciplines such as genetics and bioinformatics to approach the challenges in cardiovascular research. Another priority is the need to make use of the versatile models available (from two-dimensional cell cultures over organoids, engineered heart tissues to animal models) to understand the detailed mechanisms underlying cardiac diseases. Ultimately, this meeting also underscored the importance of sharing findings, from this meeting and others, with the broader community. Symposia of gathered experts that share their findings with their communities are critical to move the field forward through discussion, thought, and innovation.

The Keystone Symposia conference on “Heart Development and Disease: From Genes to Cures” was held in Santa Fe, NM from February 12th - February 15th. The conference was organized by Dr. Sean M. Wu (Stanford University, USA), Dr. Wolfram H. Zimmermann (University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany) and Dr. Christine E. Seidman (Harvard University, USA) and was sponsored by Amgen Inc., Lilly USA, LLC and Merck & Co., Inc.

Additional Stanford Cardiovascular Institute members who participated in leading session at this Keystone Symposium include Kristy Red-Horse, Casey Gifford, and Anna Hnatiuk.