MBP researcher Dr. Nilesh Ghugre has been awarded the prestigious National New Investigator Award (2021/22) from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC) for his research program "Image-guided response monitoring and therapeutics for ischemic heart disease". This award recognizes and provides salary support for Canada's best young cardiovascular researchers.
Summary of the Program Acute myocardial infarction (MI) remains the most common cause of heart failure (HF) in Canada; there are 580,000 Canadians with a history of MI and 670,000 suffering from HF. The research program will investigate image-based response monitoring and therapeutic strategies for acute and chronic myocardial injury post-MI. Despite successful restoration of coronary perfusion, ischemia-reperfusion injury (I/R) is a frequent undesirable consequence following MI resulting in greater ischemic damage. The viability of the lethal iron complexes involved during and post-I/R as a novel therapeutic target (particularly hemorrhage) remains to be investigated. We will investigate the mechanistic implications of iron in I/R and device strategies that can offer cardioprotection by mobilizing iron deposition, modulating microvascular injury and inflammation and thereby reduce chronic adverse remodeling post-MI (often seen in these patients). Secondly, complementary to drug therapeutics, cell-based therapies offer a revolutionary approach to repair/repopulate non-contractile scar tissue and potentially improve long-term heart function. New cell lines have shown early promise but demand in vivo efficacy evaluation and a mechanistic understanding of host-graft integration, to design biologics that can offer maximal functional recovery. To investigate the outlined scenarios, our program will establish a framework of advanced imaging biomarkers to probe the fate of myocytes, assess remodeling and determine therapeutic efficacy (both drug and regenerative medicine). We will utilize, develop and validate imaging protocols using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for the in vivo assessment of cardiac function/structure, viability, iron, inflammation and vascular state post-MI. We will also leverage hybrid PET/MR imaging technologies to gain insights on function, structure and metabolism simultaneously. The integrated imaging technologies and experimental models developed in this program will offer a unique and powerful framework for clinicians to effectively identify, monitor and manage the high-risk patients. The non-invasive imaging platform can potentially aid translation of emerging therapies into patients who are susceptible to HF.
The overall research program is jointly supported by the Heart and Stroke Foundation (GIA award), Medicine by Design (MbD) Program at the University of Toronto, NSERC Discovery and New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) - Exploration.
Please join the Department in congratulating Dr. Ghugre on this outstanding achievement.
