Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide with myocardial infarction as the most common cause of heart injury in humans.  After cardiac damage, the human heart fails to regenerate and replaces lost tissues with a fibrotic scar eventually leading to heart failure.  Contrary to humans, zebrafish are able to regenerate their heart.

Our laboratory is interested in the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating cardiac regeneration, with a special focus on the role that the cardiac endothelium plays during this process.  Coronary invasion of the damaged tissue spearheads the regenerative response and is required to support cardiac regeneration.  We are interested in understanding how the cardiac endothelium regulates different aspects of cardiac regeneration and development and how alterations in the coronary network formation impact the ability of coronary vessels to support tissue replenishment.  We use zebrafish genetic models, molecular biology, histology, in vitro mammalian models and all that with a good pinch of cool imaging.