DC12

Project: Cardiac specific gene targeting approach in diastolic heart failure

PhD position at University of Leuven

Project Description

HFpEF, or heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, is a form of heart failure where the heart is stiffer and fails to fill properly.  It is also referred to as diastolic heart failure.  HFpEF is within a larger family of cardiometabolic disease (CMD).  These diseases arise because of metabolic dysregulation such as occurs in diabetes, obesity or hyperlipidemia. They are also characterized by the fact that they are driven by a mild chronic state of inflammation.

ABOUT THE SUPERVISORS

DC12 is supervised by Dr. Elizabeth Jones and Prof. Dr. Stephane Heymans.

Prof. Dr. Stephane Heymans

Stephane Heymans is Professor of Cardiomyopathies at the Maastricht University Medical Centre and head of Heart Failure Research (2009), Professor of Inflammation and Matrix Biology at the University of Leuven, Cardiovascular Research Department, Belgium (2011). His research focuses on genetic and molecular (inflammatory, fibrotic & metabolic) mechanisms in non-ischemic cardiomyopathies (including HFPEF, myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathies). He is (and has been) the chair of different European committees and working groups in the field of myocarditis and cardiomyopathies

Dr. Elizabeth Jones

Dr. Jones’ expertise lies in the study of vascular remodelling and vascular adaptation. She began her career studying blood fluid dynamics and the process of mechanotransduction. She did her thesis in embryonic blood fluid dynamics, her post doc in the genetic regulation of arterial-venous differentiation by flow dynamics. Though her career started in the biology of vascular remodelling, she has also begun to focus on microvascular maladaptation in disease since moving her lab to the KU Leuven in 2014. She now works extensively on microvascular involvement in the development of diastolic heart failure and vascular cognitive impairment.