Leslie Leinward, a molecular biologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, had a weird obsession with pythons. Her coworkers gave her strange looks when she announced her new found interest in the slithering snakes. Leinward also had an interest in the roots of heart disease. She realized that despite the fact that snakes eat large amounts of fat, their hearts stay strong and lean. It wasn’t certain that any snake biology would transfer to human biology due to the fact that for the most part, they are not very similar. Her research eventually paid off six years. It was found that the blood from a python contains molecules that rapidly strengthen the heart muscle and bulk it up.  Congestive heart failure, a chronic condition that has affected 5.7 million Americans is when the heart becomes too weak and blood isn’t pumping efficiently. The new snake discovery might make a good approach to this along with other cardiovascular diseases. Leinwand says that the main idea would be for everyone to have a big, muscular heart like that of an elite athlete. Unfortunately, many people develop the wrong kind of big heart. Their heart becomes enlarged from obesity and high blood pressure.  The heart has so much stress that the heart stretches out to make up for it. It gets larger but does not work as effectively. This can increase risk for heart attacks or the buildup of fat.

Information obtained at www.discovermagazine.com Pictures obtained at www.kingsnake.com and www.easterndrugs.com