I am a senior research associate at the Hatter Cardiovascular Inst, investigating the role of mitochondria and Calcium in cardiac injury during ischaemia and reperfusion. The aim is eventually to find new ways of preserving the heart from injury during a heart attack.

I use powerful imaging techniques such as confocal and multiphoton microscopy to visualize real-time, physiological changes in the isolated, perfused heart. Using fluorescent dyes it is possible to detect changes in mitochondrial activity due to mitochondrial damage. By using transgenic mice expressing a fluorescent reporter such as GCaMP2 I am able to combine this with measure changes in calcium concentration during ischaemia and reperfusion and see it corresponds to regions of injury. I am also interested in the role of novel modulators of Calcium in the heart such as NAADP and its contribution to cellular injury.

Although cardiac muscle cells(cardiomyocytes) make up the bulk of the heart, they are actually outnumbered by the endothelial cells which line the vasculature. Multiphoton microscopy allows visualization of both the cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells in the native arrangement, to see how they interact. Using these and other techniques I am exploring the possibility that damage to the mitochondria in endothelial cells contributes to ischaemia and reperfusion injury.