About Us

Despite optimal use of traditional therapeutic approach to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality due to myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke remain high and continue to rise globally. Inflammation and immunity are key processes in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis—and promising targets for new therapies to treat cardiovascular disease.

We are using high-dimensional technologies like time-of-flight mass cytometry (CyTOF) and RNA sequencing for unbiased analysis of single-cell variation and functional activation of inflammatory cells in blood and in atherosclerotic tissue of patients enrolled in an ongoing clinical study.

Our goal is to identify immune regulatory networks and signaling pathways relevant to human atherosclerosis to improve data-driven selection of suitable molecular targets for novel anti-inflammatory and immune-modulatory therapies in cardiovascular disease. Using sophisticated single-cell technologies like CyTOF we tailor and monitor individualized therapies directly in inflammatory cells of patients—a prerequisite for precision medicine.

Non-invasive imaging modalities (MRI, 18FDG-PET/MR) are also used for further pre-clinical validation in large animal model of atherosclerosis.