Division of Medical Physiology
?
?Re?search focus areas
- Ischaemic heart disease, with particular attention to the mechanisms and signalling pathways involved in cell death, apoptosis and autophagy, and the prevention thereof by interventions such as ischaemic / pharmacological preconditioning, or administration of drugs and other potentially protective substances either before or after an ischaemic event;
- The cardiovascular, metabolic and antioxidant effects of obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus and the metabolic syndrome, and studying putative beneficial and cardioprotective effects of various drugs and indigenous plant extracts in the context of these conditions;
- The role of the vascular endothelium as a primary target of cardiovascular risk factors and studying the mechanisms underlying endothelial dysfunction as an early precursor and predictor of ischaemic heart disease and other adverse cardiovascular events;
- Optimizing the use of isolated adult cardiomyocytes for cellular and subcellular studies; Antioxidant effects on the cardiovascular system and foetal development, with emphasis on oxidative stress, lipid profiles, blood pressure, vascular and endothelial function, and the potential protective effects of various agents with antioxidant properties.
