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ERC Advanced Grant awarded to Prof. Andy Baker

ERC Advanced Grant awarded to Prof. Andy Baker

15 April 2024

Prof. Andy Baker (Dept of Pathology) has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant of €2,5M for his research project PolymiRize: Poly-miRNA targeting to prevent and reverse complex tissue remodelling after acute cardiovascular events'.

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Longer and better lives for patients with atrial fibrillation

Longer and better lives for patients with atrial fibrillation

15 April 2024

An international panel of experts published recommendations to improve management of atrial fibrillation (AF).

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Carim Maastricht
Carim Maastricht

Blanche Schroen

Professor

Prof. Blanche Schroen graduated in Biological Health Sciences at Maastricht University. Her PhD (2002-2006) at Maastricht University, CARIM, Department of Cardiology, aimed at finding molecular and genetical determinants of heart failure-susceptibility using 'omics' techniques. Subsequently, she performed post-doctoral work on cardiac genetical genomics at Imperial College London, in the lab of Prof. Timothy Aitman (clinical geneticist) and Prof. Stuart Cook (cardiologist), with the support of an NWO Rubicon grant. 

In 2008, she returned to the Department of Cardiology at Maastricht University, and started her current research on the role of non-coding RNAs as susceptibility factors for the development of Heart Failure with preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF). Personal grants (NWO Veni, Vidi, NHS Dekker senior postdoc) and consortium grants (CVON She-predicts-HF, H2020) allowed to continue studies on cardiac molecular biology and genetics in the context of HFpEF and in close collaboration with Dr Marc van Bilsen (Dept of Physiology) and cardiologist Dr Vanessa van Empel. In particular, research focusses on the role of non-coding RNAs in pathophysiological processes underlying HFpEF, including inflammation, microvascular dysfunction, fibrosis and cardiomyocyte remodeling. Hence the title of her chair is ‘Experimental Cardiology, in particular diastolic dysfunction’.

The laboratory of Experimental Cardiology is part of the Department of Cardiology and of the Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM). The lab finds its home base at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) of Maastricht university. Within this lab, the research team that is supervised by Prof. Blanche Schroen, Dr Marc van Bilsen and Dr Vanessa van Empel, aims at the unravelling of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying heart failure, with a particular focus on heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and diastolic dysfunction. 

The team has a broad scientific interest in cellular and molecular mechanisms in the diseased heart, including the role of immune cells, fibroblasts and the microvasculature in the progression towards HFpEF. In addition, the team has expertise in metabolic determinants of cardiomyocyte function. These cellular aspects of heart failure development are investigated predominantly by focussing on the role of non-coding RNAs within the different cell types. As a basis for the research conducted within the group, the impact of systemic diseases like hypertension, diabetes and obesity on the heart is considered central to the progression towards heart failure and HFpEF.

Blanche-schroen

Department of Cardiology
Universiteitssingel 50, 6229 ER Maastricht
PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht

  • 2023
    • van Nieuwenhoven, F. A., Schroen, B., Barile, L., van Middendorp, L., Prinzen, F. W., & Auricchio, A. (2023). Plasma Extracellular Vesicles as Liquid Biopsy to Unravel the Molecular Mechanisms of Cardiac Reverse Remodeling Following Resynchronization Therapy?Journal of Clinical Medicine, 12(2), Article 665. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12020665
  • 2022
    • Weerts, J., Mourmans, S. G. J., Barandiaran Aizpurua, A., Schroen, B. L. M., Knackstedt, C., Eringa, E., Houben, A. J. H. M., & van Empel, V. P. M. (2022). The Role of Systemic Microvascular Dysfunction in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction. Biomolecules, 12(2), Article 278. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12020278
  • 2021
    • De Majo, F., Martens, L., Hegenbarth, J. C., Ruhle, F., Hamczyk, M. R., Nevado, R. M., Andres, V., Hilbold, E., Bar, C., Thum, T., de Boer, M., Duncker, D. J., Schroen, B., Armand, A. S., Stoll, M., & De Windt, L. J. (2021). Genomic instability in the naturally and prematurely aged myocardium. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(36), Article e2022974118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2022974118
  • 2020
    • Robinson, E. L., Gomes, C. P. C., Potocnjak, I., Hellemans, J., Betsou, F., de Gonzalo-Calvo, D., Stoll, M., Yilmaz, M. B., Agg, B., Beis, D., Carmo-Fonseca, M., Enguita, F. J., Dogan, S., Tuna, B. G., Schroen, B., Ammerlaan, W., Kuster, G. M., Carpusca, I., Pedrazzini, T., ... EU-CardioRNA COST Action (2020). A Year in the Life of the EU-CardioRNA COST Action: CA17129 Catalysing Transcriptomics Research in Cardiovascular Disease. Non-coding RNA, 6(2), Article 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/ncrna6020017
    • Suthahar, N., Meems, L. M. G., van Veldhuisen, D. J., Walter, J. E., Gansevoort, R. T., Heymans, S., Schroen, B., van der Harst, P., Kootstra-Ros, J. E., van Empel, V., Mueller, C., Bakker, S. J. L., & de Boer, R. A. (2020). High-Sensitivity Troponin-T and Cardiovascular Outcomes in the Community: Differences Between Women and Men. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 95(6), 1158-1168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2020.01.017
    • De Majo, F., Hegenbarth, J.-C., Ruehle, F., Baer, C., Thum, T., de Boer, M., Duncker, D. J., Schroen, B., Armand, A.-S., Stoll, M., & De Windt, L. J. (2020). Dichotomy between the transcriptomic landscape of naturally versus accelerated aged murine hearts. Scientific Reports, 10(1), Article 8136. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65115-9
    • Liapi, E., van Bilsen, M., Verjans, R., & Schroen, B. (2020). tRNAs and tRNA fragments as modulators of cardiac and skeletal muscle function. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta-Molecular Cell Research, 1867(3), Article 118465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamcr.2019.03.012
    • Verjans, R., van Bilsen, M., & Schroen, B. (2020). Reviewing the Limitations of Adult Mammalian Cardiac Regeneration: Noncoding RNAs as Regulators of Cardiomyogenesis. Biomolecules, 10(2), Article 262. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom10020262
    • Gomes, C. P. C., Schroen, B., Kuster, G. M., Robinson, E. L., Ford, K., Squire, I. B., Heymans, S., Martelli, F., Emanueli, C., Devaux, Y., & EU-CardioRNA COST Action (CA17129) (2020). Regulatory RNAs in Heart Failure. Circulation, 141(4), 313-328. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.042474
  • 2019
    • Kenneweg, F., Bang, C., Xiao, K., Boulanger, C. M., Loyer, X., Mazlan, S., Schroen, B., Hermans-Beijnsberger, S., Foinquinos, A., Hirt, M. N., Eschenhagen, T., Funcke, S., Stojanovic, S., Genschel, C., Schimmel, K., Just, A., Pfanne, A., Scherf, K., Dehmel, S., ... Thum, T. (2019). Long Noncoding RNA-Enriched Vesicles Secreted by Hypoxic Cardiomyocytes Drive Cardiac Fibrosis. Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids, 18, 363-374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omtn.2019.09.003
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