Research objectives

Cardiac development and genetics

The zebrafish model is used to study the genetics of congenital heart defects. By forward genetic screening in zebrafish we aim to identify novel genes that have important functions during vertebrate heart development. We aim to use this information to screen for genetic variations in patients with congenital heart defects to better understand the genetics of the disease.

Our research group is incorporated in the Interuniversity Cardiology Institute of the Netherlands (ICIN).

Heart development
The circulatory system of vertebrates has various necessary functions throughout embryonic and adult life. A wide range of congenital and acquired human diseases are associated with pathological conditions in heart formation. Since the signalling mechanisms affected in these diseases are the same mechanisms that occur during embryonic heart development, their study is a subject of great interest and relevance.

The zebrafish offers several distinct advantages as a genetic and embryological model system for these studies. Their external fertilization, rapid development and optical clarity makes them very suitable for studying important cellular processes during embryonic heart development such as cell migration, proliferation and differentiation. We use forward and reverse genetic tools to identify novel genes that are required for normal heart development and use in situ hybridization, antibody stainings and confocal micrsocopy to study the function those genes.

Genetics of human congenital heart defects
Congenital heart defect (CHD) is the most common human birth defect and the leading cause of death in the first year of life. In the Netherlands , 1500 children with CHD are born every year. Although many patients born with a CHD have a positive family history, there are only a few cases in which the genetic defect causing the malformation has been identified. We are screening CHD patients for genetic variations and are testing the effect of novel variations on protein function in vitro and in vivo. Hopefully this will lead to a better understanding of what can cause human CHDs.

About the group leader
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