The Dr. Dekker beurs was awarded to Deli Zhang (post-doc Brundels group). Congratulations Deli! Please refer to this article for more information.

 

BEAT Atrial Fibrillation: prevention of microtubule-SR-mitochondria disruption

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common persistent cardiac arrhythmia in Western countries. Present AF therapies have moderate efficacy due to the presence of structural damage (i.e. remodeling) in atrial tissue. A clear unmet need exists for a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying structural remodeling and AF development in order to identify novel mechanism-based treatment approaches.

The project of Dr. Deli Zhang aims to dissect one of the fundamental aspects of structural remodeling: disruption of the microtubule-sarcoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria contacts, by using various cutting-edge techniques, including super resolution microscopy.  Establishing the role of this pathway in AF may provide leads for novel therapeutic approaches which can be tested in clinical AF in collaboration with the Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Platform (www.AFIPonline.org, link).