MUHC cardiac surgeon wins $100K award for stem cell research
Posted December 12, 2024 10:49 am.
A cardiac surgeon using stem cells to test the effects of radiation as a treatment for ventricular tachycardia is the latest winner of a prestigious award at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).
Dr. Renzo Cecere was awarded this year’s Trottier Webster Innovation Award and the $100,000 prize that comes with it – money that will be used to advance his research.
“I would say one of the highest achievements of my own personal career,” Dr. Cecere told CityNews.
Cecere’s team uses stem cells derived from blood to create heart muscle cells to test the effects of radiation.
“The research that we’re undertaking uses the patient’s own stem cells that we derive from their blood in order to coax those stem cells into reproducing into heart muscle cells that will eventually replace their own failing heart muscle,” Cecere explained.
“On a biologic basis, the heart cells that we grow actually represent genetic duplicates of the patient’s own heart muscle cells. So we can see the heart’s beating actually in a dish.”
Dr. Cecere and his team also help patients with a weakened heart or heart failure receive a ‘mechanical heart.’
“We’ve now implanted our 100 implantable heart pump this week. So we’re very grateful for this great achievement.”
Established in 2019, the Trottier Family Foundation and the R. Howard Webster Foundation pledged $3 million to the MUHC Foundation to support outstanding research projects at the Research Institute of the MUHC.
