{"id":375859,"date":"2026-10-17T22:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T22:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/375859\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T22:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T22:00:08","slug":"friends-of-murdoch-childrens-research-institute-gather-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/375859\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends of Murdoch Children\u2019s Research Institute gather in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friends of Murdoch Children\u2019s Research Institute<\/a> (MCRI) gathered at Old Mates \u2014 the haute Aussie pub <\/a>co-owned by Hugh Jackman in NYC \u2014 on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Mixing downtown cool and authentic Australian pub fare \u2014 including sausage rolls, oysters Kilpatrick and pavlova \u2014 the packed event also featured Professor Enzo Porrello<\/a>, MCRI\u2019s Theme Director of Stem Cell Medicine and Head of the Heart Regeneration Group, revealing his latest inspirational breakthrough discovery in gene therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeart disease in children is pretty common,\u201d Porrello explained. \u201cIt affects one in 100 children\u2026 that\u2019s about 40,000 children born in the US every year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Professor Enzo Porrello spoke on a panel at the Friends of MCRI New York 2026 event. PictureGroup\/FOX<\/p>\n

Porrello appeared on the panel with Old Mates co-owner Nicholas Stone (left), who\u2019s also on the Global Advisory Board for MCRI, as well as MCRI Co-Chair and Chair of MCRI\u2019s Global Advisory Board Sarah Murdoch. Pictured here with Professor David Elliott (far right). PictureGroup\/FOX<\/p>\n

In Porrello\u2019s work at MCRI, \u201cWe\u2019re interested in really the most severe forms of heart disease in children that can result in heart failure,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the only treatment for heart failure is a heart transplant. And transplants are not a cure. It\u2019s really a last resort. And we really need better therapies \u2014 more targeted therapies \u2014 they get to the root cause of disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appearing on a panel with Old Mates co-owner Nicholas Stone \u2014 a founder of Bluestone Lane, who\u2019s also on the Global Advisory Board for MCRI \u2014 and MCRI Co-Chair and Chair of MCRI\u2019s Global Advisory Board Sarah Murdoch, Porrello shared how he and MCRI researchers have created a therapy that\u2019s a \u201csingle shot injection\u201d that can cure certain heart disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve shown in animal studies that not only can this gene therapy prevent the development of heart disease,\u201d Porrello told the rapt crowd. \u201cIt can actually completely reverse established heart disease\u2026 which is incredible. We\u2019ve never seen anything like that in our sort of 15 to 20 years of doing this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Friends of MCRI New York event included a fun raffle. PictureGroup\/FOX<\/p>\n

The packed event took place at Old Mates in Manhattan. PictureGroup\/FOX<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so we\u2019re super excited now to take that gene therapy out of the lab and get it into clinical trials,\u201d he said. \u201cSo our focus now is, \u2018How do we move this as fast as possible.\u201d He also outlined the critical process that would make the life-saving gene therapy a reality.<\/p>\n

Murdoch paid tribute to the roots of the organization and MCRI<\/a> co-founder Dame Elisabeth Murdoch in her remarks. \u201cShe was an extraordinary woman,\u201d Murdoch said, adding\u00a0that when MCRI was founded, \u201cWe had not mapped the human genome, we didn\u2019t know about genetics the way we do today. And we know that almost every disease has a genetic course. Fast forward to now, we\u2019re top three in the world. It\u2019s extraordinary. I think that what makes it special is that her determination\u2026 her legacy lives on deeply through the institute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Goldman Sachs\u2019 leadership on the night: Kurt Simon, Joanna Kozlowski, David Dubner, Jodie Relton, Aiden Hallett, Pat Fels PictureGroup\/FOX<\/p>\n

Murdoch spoke about MCRI\u2019s history and breakthroughs in gene therapy. PictureGroup\/FOX<\/p>\n

Murdoch also praised Porrello at the Friends of MCRI New York 2026 gathering by saying, \u201cYou need researchers like Enzo\u2026 located in the hospital where they see the children unwell\u201d to \u201cfind answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMCRI were grateful to Goldman Sachs, who returned as Presenting Sponsor for the second consecutive year, for their continued support and partnership,\u201d organizers said.<\/p>\n

Old Mates co-owner and Blue Stone lane co-founder Nicholas Stone was a charming emcee on the night. PictureGroup\/FOX<\/p>\n

The fun and fascinating event brought Australia\u2019s MCRI to NYC. PictureGroup\/FOX<\/p>\n

Asena Advisors, Bondi Partners and Fabletics were additional sponsors.<\/p>\n

There was also a fun raffle this year, plus a sneak peek of MCRI\u2019s new \u201cFor All. Forever\u201d animation \u2014 part of the organization\u2019s 40th anniversary \u2014 which will be narrated by Hollywood star Jackman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Friends of Murdoch Children\u2019s Research Institute (MCRI) gathered at Old Mates \u2014 the haute Aussie pub co-owned by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3306,35590,972,3663,75,10441,9,8088,56,63,65,64,6781,8089],"class_list":["post-375859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-charity","tag-charity-events","tag-doctors","tag-hospital","tag-manhattan","tag-medicine","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-society","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-science","tag-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}