Maksymilian Prondzynski
MSc, PhD
Investigator, BC Children's Hospital
Dr. Prondzynski's research focuses on understanding how the human heart forms before birth and what causes congenital heart diseases—structural problems that babies are born with. His team creates miniature human heart models in the laboratory to study these early developmental defects and find ways to detect, prevent, and potentially correct heart problems that begin in the womb. The research addresses critical questions about why some babies develop heart defects during pregnancy, even when their parents are healthy. By understanding what disrupts normal heart formation during early development, the team aims to identify risk factors and develop interventions that could help affected children. To achieve this, Dr. Prondzynski uses advanced laboratory techniques to grow human heart cells from stem cells—special cells that can become any type of cell in the body. His team can edit genes to understand how specific mutations cause birth defects, create 3D heart tissue that develops like an embryonic heart, and grow tiny organ-like structures called organoids that mimic how the human heart forms during pregnancy. These lab-grown models allow researchers to study congenital heart disease from the earliest stages without risk to mothers or babies. This innovative approach could lead to prenatal screening tools to detect heart defects earlier in pregnancy, new treatments to prevent or minimize developmental abnormalities, and potentially therapies to improve outcomes for children born with heart defects.
