Friends of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) gathered on Thursday night at Old Mates, the haute Aussie pub co-owned by Hugh Jackman in New York City.
Bringing together hip and authentic Australian pub food in the city center (including sausage rolls, oyster Kilpatrick and pavlova), this jam-packed event also featured MCRI’s Stem Cell Medicine Theme Director and Head of the Heart Regeneration Group, Professor Enzo Porrello, who revealed his latest inspiring breakthrough in gene therapy.
“Heart disease is quite common in children,” Porrello explained. “It affects 1 in 100 children… which means approximately 40,000 children are born in the United States each year.”
“We’re really looking at the most severe forms of heart disease that can result in heart failure in children,” Porrello’s study at MCRI said. “So the only cure for heart failure is a heart transplant. Transplants are not a cure either. They’re really a last resort. And we really need better treatments – more targeted treatments – that get to the root cause of the disease.”
Joining a panel with Bluestone Lane founder and Old Mates co-owner Nicholas Stone, who also sits on the MCRI Global Advisory Board, and Sarah Murdoch, MCRI Co-President and Chair of the MCRI Global Advisory Board, Porrello shared how he and MCRI researchers created a therapy, a “one-shot injection,” that can treat certain heart diseases.
“We have shown in animal studies that this gene therapy not only prevents the development of heart disease,” Porrello told the rapt crowd. “It can actually completely reverse established heart disease… which is incredible. We’ve never seen anything like this in the 15 to 20 years we’ve been doing this.”
“And now we’re very excited to get this gene therapy out of the lab and into clinical trials,” he said. “So our current focus is, ‘How can we move this forward as quickly as possible?'” He also outlined the critical process that will make life-saving gene therapy a reality.
In his remarks, Murdoch paid tribute to the roots of the organization and MCRI co-founder Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. “She was an extraordinary woman,” said Murdoch, adding that when MCRI was founded: “We hadn’t mapped the human genome, we didn’t know genetics the way we do today. And we know that almost every disease has a genetic course. Fast forward to now, we’re in the top three in the world. That’s extraordinary. I think what makes her special is her determination… the fact that her legacy lives on deeply through the institute.”
Murdoch also praised Porrello at the Friends of MCRI New York 2026 meeting, saying: “To find answers, you need researchers like Enzo, who are in the hospital where they see children badly.”
“MCRI is grateful for their continued support and partnership with Goldman Sachs, who returns as Presenting Sponsor for the second year in a row,” organizers said.
Asena Advisors, Bondi Partners and Fabletics became additional sponsors.
This year there was also a fun giveaway, as well as a sneak peek at MCRI’s new “For All. Forever” animation as part of the organization’s 40th anniversary, featuring the voice of Hollywood star Jackman.