Researchers in Emory University School of Medicine’s regenerative medicine program are working to develop new therapies for cardiovascular disease. Emory Department of Medicine Vice Chair and Cardiology Division Director W. Robert Taylor, MD, PhD; Rebecca Levit, MD; and Young-sup Yoon, MD, PhD discuss the program in this short video.

In the field of cell therapy for cardiovascular diseases, researchers see two main ways that the cells can provide benefits: *As building blocks actually replacing dead cells in damaged tissues *As nurses — supplying growth factors and other supportive signals, but not becoming part of damaged tissues Tension between these two roles arises partly from the source of the cells.

Cardiac cell therapy sounds like a promising idea: use the patients' own cells to enhance healing or even regenerate the damaged heart muscle. Doctors have taken up the promise, testing it in clinical trials involving thousands of patients. But a basic problem facing the field is this: naked cells don't appear to stay in the heart or stay alive for long enough to provide a sustained benefit.