Director
L H Opie, MD Dphil DSc FRCP DMed (Hons)
The Hatter Institute was established three years ago and has incorporated
the previous Heart Research Unit into its structure. This has now become
a consolidated Cardiovascular Research Unit within the Department of Medicine.
We have consolidated our research interests into two main arenas, i.e.
cardiac protection against ischaemia and the molecular biology of cardiac
hypertrophy. The Hatter Institute now uses state of the art genetically
modified models to study the molecular, cellular and physiological basis
of heart diseases. We believe that the Institute has become an active
and productive arena for the training of both clinician-scientists and
biomedical scientists. Currently, we are training 6 Ph.D. students and
2 MSc students.
Teaching
All teaching is at the postgraduate level to students
undertaking degrees in biomedical research.
Research
Cytokine Signaling in Promoting Innate Cardioprotection:
A role for TNFa in cytoprotection against myocardial infarction (innate
cytoprotection) has recently been established. The mechanisms whereby
this signaling orchestrates cytoprotection in the heart are however unknown.
In data that has been submitted for publication and that we will present
at the AHA meeting in Anaheim in November we demonstrate that TNFa signaling
is required in the biological phenomenon known as preconditioning. The
current focus is to establish the signaling that directs this cytoprotection.
Moreover, as TNFa signaling is probably a single component in a complex
cytokine cascade we are currently generating conditional cardiac knockouts
of STAT3, a regulatory peptide downstream of TNFa and of other putative
pro-survival cytokines like IL-6 to investigate in the context of ischemia
and reperfusion injury.
The Role of Mitochondrial Homeostasis
in the Cardiac Cell Survival Program:
Current data suggest that mitochondria may play a central role in the
promotion of cell survival across multiple cell/tissue types. In the heart
(and other organs) a phenomenon named preconditioning seems to activate
the cell survival response conferring enhanced tolerance towards ischaemic
insults. The mitochondria may be central to the preconditioning phenomenon.
We have demonstrated that transient pharmacologic uncoupling of rat hearts
can induce the cardioprotective phenotype. Moreover, in numerous cell
lines we demonstrate that preconditioning directly uncouples mitochondrial
oxidation from phosphorylation (manuscript submitted). A major objective
of the laboratory is to now establish how uncoupling promotes a cytoprotective
cellular phenotype. These studies are focussing on ROS signaling and on
mitochondrial directed regulation of glucose metabolism.
Gene Regulation in Cardiac Hypertrophy
and Heart Failure:
To understand the functional role of cardiac metabolism in the development
of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. We are focussing on fatty acid
utilization enzyme encoding genes and are studying their regulation in
cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. The current in vivo model system
we are using is the hypobaric hypoxic environment induced development
of right ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure. Current animals used
include knockout mice, transgenic mice and rats. Moreover, metabolic correlates
are being performed using the isolated Langendorf preparation. The long-term
objectives of these studies will be the genetic manipulation of these
regulatory programs to treat or prevent the onset of cardiac muscle disease.
Clinical Services
Professor Lionel Opie, Dr Michael Sack, Dr Chris
McLeod and Dr Jan Minners work in the Cardiac Clinic.
Meetings
Weekly Meetings:
- Basic Molecular and Cellular Biology Journal
Watch with specific emphasis on the Cardiovascular system.
- Laboratory meetings to discuss data.
Monthly Meetings:
- Combined meetings with the Department of Medical
Physiology at Tygerberg Hospital and Univ. of Stellenbosch
Annual Meetings:
- Cardiology at the Limits - This symposium brings
together experts in Cardiology from the USA, Europe and South Africa.
This is a combined meeting conjointly organised with the Hatter Institute
for Cardiovascular Studies at University College London. The meeting
this year will be the 5th annual meeting of its kind and is always followed
with a book published on the proceedings.
Publications
Click here
for publications
Staff
Emeritus Professor and Director, Cape Heart Centre
L H Opie, MD Dphil DSc FRCP Dmed (Hons)
Honorary Professor (University College
London)
D M Yellon, PhD DSc MRCP (Hons) FACC FESC
Visiting Professor (University of the Western Cape)
D Dietrich, PhD Amsterdam
Scientific Investigators
L Louw, PhD, Lond
S Lecour, PharmD PhD France
S Makaula
N Manga, MSc Witwatersrand
C McLeood, MBChB, Cape Town
K Ngumbela , MSC Stell
J O Minners, MD Germany
N Suleman BSc (Hons) Cape Town
Research Assistant
L Lacerda, Med tech
J McCarthy, BSc (Hons) Cape Town
Contact Details
Hatter Institute for Cardiology Research
Cape Heart Centre
Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Cape Town
7925 Observatory
South Africa
Tel. +27 (21) 406 6358
Fax: +27 (21) 4478789
Director: Prof Lionel Opie: lionel.opie@uct.ac.za
Secretary: Ms Sylvia Dennis: sylvia.dennis@uct.ac.za
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