Each summer at the Florida Heart Research Institute we are fortunate to provide a select group of young “scientists” with the opportunity to experience the “real world” of scientific research. Frequently these enthusiastic and talented young people are preparing for careers in medicine, and, as such, experience a radical departure from the classic academic grind of graduate preparation.

College coursework at the introductory level is, of necessity, filled with large volumes of information that must be digested and applied. Textbooks, handbooks and laboratories are all designed to provide students with the fundamentals necessary for higher pursuits. However, once the student enters the research laboratory, all of that changes. Dogma yields to inquiry. All of a sudden, that which had been accepted as true is subject to question: how is it that we know this? On what is this conclusion based? What were the strengths and weaknesses of the work which led us to this conclusion? What are the unresolved issues? Where is the next most productive area for investigation?

One such area which we are currently investigating at FHRI involves the fascinating topic of myocardial regeneration—the ability of heart cells to reproduce themselves. Any self-respecting medical text from the past century will readily declare that heart (and brain and spinal cord) tissue is “terminally” differentiated. In other words, these cells have developed into such highly specialized tissues and organs, that they have lost their ability to regenerate themselves, like the less highly specialized skin and liver and kidney cells do. All indications were that such a hypothesis fit the facts, until certain investigators began to look more closely. Studies of heart tissue recovering from injury seemed to indicate that even highly differentiated heart cells were undergoing cell division in response to injury. Studies of heart transplants from donors of one gender into recipients of another gender provided the opportunity to distinguish the origin of cells within the heart. Findings demonstrated regeneration of heart cells from the host in the donor organ. Moreover, researchers at FHRI, in collaboration with Columbia University, have found in an experimental model that the injection of human bone marrow precursor cells into rodents following heart attack results in, among other things, stimulation of native heart cell reproduction. Paradigms fall in the face of evidence and insightful observation. The clinical impact is nothing short of enormous! If we assume that once injured, the heart (or brain) cannot regenerate itself, management is confined to trying to manage and compensate for the injury. On the other hand, if the potential exists for regeneration, albeit a highly controlled and regulated potential, then future treatment will be based on defining and modulating those very control mechanisms to help bring as complete a repair to the injured area as possible—a “new” heart if you will.

Of course, none of this happens without effort—enormous effort. A student in a course can anticipate that in return for his efforts in mastering the text, he will, within a defined period of time, have attained a certain amount of knowledge. Unfortunately, his time in the laboratory has no such guarantee. Many hypotheses prove to be wrong—after much time and effort. Many others prove to be correct, but not until years of tireless effort are expended to prove them. But without the exposure to the process, our prospects for building the young investigators who will lead us into the future would indeed be grim. It is for this reason that FHRI looks to our young students to give them a summer “taste” of the world of research.