Illuminating new paths in heart failure therapy

HeartVision is an ambitious high-risk, high-gain project that aims to unlock real-time, in vivo 3D microscopy of beating hearts and engineered heart tissues (EHTs) at cell-scale resolution – even deep within tissue folds.Heart failure is the leading cause of death worldwide, and today, there is no curative therapy for it. EHT transplantation offers hope, but we currently lack tools to assess its effectiveness in real time. Critical questions remain unanswered: Where do transplanted cardiomyocytes go? How do they integrate? When do they start contributing to heart function? Today, even imaging cells deep within therapy-scale EHTs is not possible - let alone in a beating heart.HeartVision will break this barrier by pushing optical microscopy into the infrared spectrum, enabling real-time, in vivo visualization of cardiomyocytes in both EHTs and beating hearts. This infrared microscopy window will be transformative - not just for heart failure therapy, but across regenerative medicine and disease research.HeartVision will deliver:+ Vitroscope – a disruptive in vitro imaging tool for therapy-scale EHTs+ Vivoscope – a radical in vivo imaging system for beating animal hearts+ Computational tissue clearing – for deep structural and functional imaging+ OrganLab – a high-value platform for next-gen therapy developmentThese technologies will be used for:+ Mitochondrial transfer studies for novel therapy pathways+ Direct visualization of EHT integration in beating heartsHeartVision will generate multiple IPs with potential in current and future clinical and biotech markets, while ensuring open access to key scientific breakthroughs. It strikes a bold balance between innovation exploitation and open science dissemination.HeartVision will realize the dream of cell-scale imaging in living organs and put it in the hands of therapy developers, reshaping how we see, study, and treat heart failure and beyond.