Scientists at the Centre for Protein Research at the University of Copenhagen are searching for a way to prevent heart failure by studying how proteins inside heart cells change during heart failure. Previous research has shown that some of these specific proteins are malfunctioning in patients with heart failure.

Researchers have found that if a thin cord is tightened around the aorta of a mouse, it will develop heart failure eight weeks later. Scientists will be investigating how the proteins in the heart of these mice differ from those in mice that have the same intervention, but the cord was not tightened.

At the same time, scientists will examine how the proteins inside the mice’s hearts respond when they’re treated with the same type of medicine human patients with heart failure receive.

Both the acute effects of the medicine and its effects on the heart’s proteins in the long term will be analyzed.