The heart is a complex organ made up of many different cell types that work together to keep the heart functioning. When the heart is damaged, the crosstalk between the different cells residing in the heart, including immune cells, play an important role in how and whether the heart heals. We study these processes in human cells in the laboratory, aiming to gain new insights into how the heart responds to stress and injury. This knowledge can contribute to better understanding of heart disease and thus development of new therapies.
reNEW research
We use human induced pluripotent stem cells to create beating structures called cardiac microtisses (cMTs), made of the cardiovascular cell types cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells and cardiac fibroblasts. We also add immune cells in the cMTs, namely macrophages, which are important for responding to injury, and examine how they interact with the other cell types in healthy and diseased cMTs. This approach allows us to explore processes that are difficult to study in patients and further understand heart disease.
Image description
Interaction of macrophages (cyan) with the vascular network (magenta) and other cells (all nuclei in blue) in the cMT.
Credits
Dr. Loukia Yiangou, Postdoctoral Researcher, Orlova and Davis Lab, reNEW Leiden.
Theano Tsikari, PhD Student, Orlova Lab, reNEW Leiden.
