We are inviting students interested in immunology and cardiovascular disease to perform their Master’s Degree project at the Cardiac Inflammation Research Group, CRC Malmö. Our group studies immune and inflammatory mechanisms involved in myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis and myocarditis. By using animal models and in-vitro studies we investigate the underlying disease mechanisms and aim to develop new treatments for translation into the clinic. In parallel, in our large cohorts of myocardial infarction patients, we are looking for new pathways and biomarkers that are important for the development of heart failure and other complications. You can read more about our research on our website and in our recent publications in the European Heart Journal (Marinkovic et al, 2019), Circulation Research (Marinkovic et al, 2020) and Critical Care (Jakobsson et al, 2023).
Our experienced post-docs are leading the work and provide hands-on supervision for master’s and PhD students. Our projects include in-vivo work with mouse models of myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis or myocarditis. We measure cardiac function by echocardiograpy, perform in-depth analyses of immune cell populations by flow cytometry, histology and immunohistochemistry. We have also developed an extensive database of single-cell sequencing data (CITEseq) for the detailed study of gene and surface protein expression in cells isolated from the heart, blood and immune organs of mice with myocardial infarction and myocarditis. In-vitro, we are using cell culture experiments (immune cells, cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells) to analyze cell function, gene expression, signaling pathways, and cellular metabolism (Seahorse). We use a wide range of methods such as microsurgery, immunohistochemistry, histology, light and fluorescent microscopy, ELISA, RT-PCR and Western Blot.
Our ongoing projects include:
- Study the role of novel neutrophil sub-populations identified in our earlier research in the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction and myocarditis.
- Study the impact of a treatment developed in our lab, based on blockade of the pro-inflammatory neutrophil mediator S100A8/A9, on the immune response in myocardial infarction and myocarditis.
- Develop new immunomodulatory treatments against cardiac inflammation by using individual metabolites derived from the Krebs (tricyclic acid) cycle.
- Identify immune cell populations responsible for increased vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis after a myocardial infarction.
If interested, please contact Dr. Alexandru Schiopu, group leader, at Alexandru.Schiopu@med.lu.se