While watching a jellyfish at Boston's New England Aquarium, he was struck by how the creature used a muscle to pump its way through water, a mechanism similar to a beating heart.

WSJ: Jellyfish Hints at Fix for Damaged Hearts

Further laboratory tests showed that this defect disrupts the calcium pump in heart muscle cells.

BBC: Gene link to inherited heart disease

As the weakening heart tries to pump harder, the muscle gets bigger, but becomes deformed.

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