Research Theme
Cardiology
Research Group
Department/Faculty Affiliations
Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics
Current Area of Research
Zebrafish epicardium during heart development and regeneration
I studied Biology for a BSc and an MSc at the University of Muenster, Germany. I then completed my DPhil in the BHF-sponsored Cardiovascular Science programme at the University of Oxford, joining Paul Riley's group at DPAG and Roger Patient's group at the WIMM. I am now a postdoctoral researcher/bioinformatician in Paul Riley's group.
My research has been focused on the epicardium, the outer cell layer of the heart. During my DPhil, I investigated cellular heterogeneity in the larval zebrafish epicardium and, via single-cell RNA sequencing and Cas9-mediated gene knockout, identified multiple functionally distinct epicardial subpopulations. I am now working on a project designed to compare larval and adult regenerating zebrafish epicardium regarding their gene expression profiles as well as the genomic regulation underlying gene expression.
Over the past years, I have become increasingly interested in using genomic data science to study heart regeneration. This includes the analysis of single cell and bulk RNA and ATAC sequencing data and the use of neural networks.