DEPARTMENTS

Straight From the Heart

January/February 2012

Reading time min

Straight From the Heart

Photo: Scott A. Metzler

These indigo blobs are the nuclei of heart muscle cells, viewed under a microscope. When exposed to a protein called apelin, the cells pucker at the binding site making them look, from the side, like little hearts. Scott Metzler, a postdoc at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute who studies the in utero forces that shape the heart, made the discovery while investigating apelin’s role in development and its potential for treating heart failure. For Metzler, who was born with a serious cardiac defect, this area of study is—ahem—close to his heart.

Trending Stories

  1. Feast Your Eyes

    Environment/Sustainability

  2. Seeing through skin; science skepticism; winning with jigsaw puzzles

    News

  3. 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

    Alumni Community

  4. Meet Carson Smith

    Student Life

  5. Chips off the Old Block

    The university

You May Also Like

© Stanford University. Stanford, California 94305.