# Engineered Human Heart Slice for Testing Drug-Induced Arrhythmia

> **NIH NIH R01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $70,337

## Abstract

The parent grant “Engineered Human Heart Slice for Testing Drug-Induced Arrhythmia” aims to
develop an engineered hear slice (EHS) model that will have the ability to test for drug-induced,
cardiac tachyarrhythmias. The cardiomyocytes in the EHS model are obtained from human
induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs). While hiPSC-CMs are a
promising cell source for cardiomyocytes, these cells are limited in their maturation state. hiPSC-
CMs are currently fetal-like in their development, and require stimulants to achieve an adult-like
phenotype. The parent grant focuses on the use of electromechanical, biological, and maturation
medias to attain such a phenotype in hiPSC-CMs. This leads to the goal of this supplemental
research, which is to apply an alternate stimulant to aid in the maturation of hiPSC-CMs. This
stimulant is the secretome from adipocytes (fat generating cells). The adipocytes will serve as a
source of fatty acids, which have proven to be influential in the metabolic maturation of
cardiomyocytes. The specific aim of this supplemental work is to investigate the beneficial role
of the secretome from adipocytes derived from human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells (hASCs) as a
maturation stimulant for hiPSC-CMs. The secretome from adipocytes will be integrated into the
hiPSC-CM culture media through the addition of conditioned media or use of transwell inserts.
The study will also determine whether hiPSC-CMs sorted for CD36+ (a metabolic maturation
marker) are particularly responsive to the secretome. hiPSC-CM maturation will be evaluated
through morphological, electrophysiological testing, cell-surface markers, single cell RNA-seq and
transcriptional profiling.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10154689
- **Project number:** 3R01HL152249-01S1
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** LESLIE TUNG
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $70,337
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10154689

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10154689, Engineered Human Heart Slice for Testing Drug-Induced Arrhythmia (3R01HL152249-01S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10154689. Licensed CC0.

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