S1E1: How She Mends A Broken Heart

Your heart beats more than 100,000 times a day without you ever asking it to. But what happens when something interrupts that rhythm — and more importantly, what happens after? In this pilot episode of Science at the Fifty-Third Degree, host Dr. Nayiar Shahid sits down with Dr. Zam Kassiri, a professor at the University of Alberta, to explore the fascinating and surprisingly delicate science of cardiac repair. After a heart attack, the heart doesn't just sit still — it begins a complex process of remodeling itself, reshaping its own structure to survive. But that same repair process, if it goes too far or lasts too long, can quietly become the source of long-term damage. Dr. Kassiri's research focuses on the molecular signals — including a family of proteins called ADAMs, and particularly ADAM17 — that guide whether the heart heals properly or continues to decline. Using cutting-edge tools like single-cell sequencing, her lab is mapping the conversations happening between individual cells in an injured heart, one cell at a time. This episode covers: What's actually happening inside the body during a heart attackThe process of cardiac remodeling and why timing is everythingHow the same molecules that protect the heart early on can become harmful laterWhat single-cell sequencing is revealing about heart disease at the microscopic levelWhat it feels like to do science that could one day change — or extend — someone's life