Toward a New Paradigm for the Study and Treatment of Cardiac Disorders

Prof. Lior Gepstein, a faculty member in the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion and director of the Cardiology Division and Research Wing at Rambam Health Care Campus, has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant from the European Union. This is the fourth ERC grant he has received, following a Starting Grant (StG), a Consolidator Grant (CoG), and a Proof of Concept Grant (PoC).

The new grant will support Prof. Gepstein’s development of a novel approach to studying and treating cardiac arrhythmias.

Cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation (AF) and ventricular arrhythmias (VA) are major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, the mechanisms underlying these disorders remain poorly understood in many cases, and existing treatments are often inadequate. Prof. Gepstein is developing advanced three-dimensional models of human cardiac tissue that replicate the characteristics of individual patients and integrating them with innovative optogenetic interventions for the study and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias.

The project supported by the grant will combine cardiac cell subtypes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, photolithography, and three-dimensional bioprinting, thereby providing a new medical framework for addressing cardiac arrhythmias.

The ERC Advanced Grant is among the most prestigious and competitive funding programs under Horizon Europe. It provides exceptional researchers with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, curiosity-driven projects that have the potential to lead to transformative breakthroughs. The grants support a broad range of frontier research fields, from the life sciences and exact sciences to the social sciences and humanities.

Prof. Gepstein’s grant amounts to €2.5 million, and with the additional equipment budget, the total funding awarded reaches €3.375 million.