(*) Summary: Despite the remarkable progress made over the last several years in early diagnosis and prevention, cardiovascular disorders (CVD) represent the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. According to the World Health Organization, CVD account for ~30% of all deaths; in about 40% of cases, CVD is due to ischemic heart disease, consequent to impaired blood flow from the coronary arteries. About 80% of the deaths due to CVD occur in low- and middle-income countries.

The potential of inducing new blood vessel formation or cardiac regeneration through genetic engineering and gene therapy currently engenders much excitement for the treatment of CVD. In this seminar, I will review, in a plain and accessible manner for a non-technical audience, the strategies and technologies exploitable in order to use genes as innovative cardiac drugs, and discuss the clinical results so far obtained.

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(**) For the last six years Dr. Mauro Giacca has been the Director, of the Trieste Component of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. He obtained his MD from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Trieste, in 1984 and his PhD in 1989 at the University of Genova, Italy. Since 2005 he is Full Professor, University of Trieste and previously was Associate Professor of Molecular Biology at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. 

His research interests focus on two major topics in the field of Molecular Medicine:

The first project concerns the development of viral vectors for human gene therapy, with special emphasis on vectors based on the adeno-associated virus and their application for gene therapy of cardiovascular disorders.

The second project concerns several aspects of the molecular biology of HIV-1 infection with particular reference to the study of the interactions of some viral proteins with cellular factors.
 
In the last 5 years, more than 50 seminars presented in Europe, USA and Japan on his research activity, which has been published in almost 200 papers, of which more than 160 in peer-reviewed international journals. Finally and very significant he has not neglected science communication to the larger public with several articles on newspapers and popular science magazines.