At this stage of genetic research, investigators often grapple with a dilemma:
in which direction should they steer future work?

Basic researchers would want to study the workings of the genes further. Investigators might thus seek answers to questions such as: How do these mutations cause illness? And what are the identities of all the genes involved? Basic investigators might also engineer mice with the proper genetic mutations and then study how the mutations lead to cardiomyopathy and heart failure.

On the other hand, clinicians would ask more fundamental clinical questions such as: Can you use the knowledge to address clinical issues immediately?

And that is where the bench-to-bedside paradigm fits in. The Seidmans, working at Harvard Medical School and the HPCGG, wanted to translate their basic research discoveries from the laboratory into something imminently practical -- and personalized -- in the clinic. But the investigators also realized that clinical information could further fuel the work in the lab.

Synchronicity in mind, the husband and wife team decided to split the tasks: Jon Seidman began doing the basic and animal work to ferret out the genetic reasons for the illness. Meanwhile, Kricket Seidman began searching for a way to apply their new-found knowledge to patients.