Cardiomyocytes are specialized cells that allow for contraction of arguably our most important muscle – our heart. These cells divide and grow during early development; however, those of the adult do not. This lack of accessibility has made it difficult to study these important cells. Differentiation of human stem cells into cardiomyocytes is one solution. With the use of induced-pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) (cells that were once specific but now transformed into a stem cell) we can now generate large numbers of cardiomyocytes – which we can use for our studies, and potentially for therapeutic repair of damaged heart issue.

Our image demonstrates how we can employ these naïve stem cells to generate populations of cardiomyocytes. These cells form complex emergent structures as they develop into mature cardiomyocytes.