Elise Kessler, PhD

Sex-differences in cardiology is an important topic and its awareness has been increasing over the last decade. More and more research is performed in patients and animal models nowadays, for instance on heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), which is more prevalent in women than men. Besides that, many comorbidities for cardiac diseases (such as HFpEF) are already more prevalent and even detrimental in women, e.g. diabetes and obesity. However, the underlying molecular sex-differences are often unknown and difficult to investigate in human or animal models.

Using complex multi-cellular in vitro systems could enable proper and detailed analysis of single comorbidities or pathological changes in a sex-specific manner.

In my research, I focus on molecular sex-differences in cardiac human iPSC derived 2D and 3D in vitro models to investigate the effect of comorbidities, such as diabetes and obesity on various parts of the heart. I investigate inflammatory cell reactions (e.g. monocytes and macrophages), endothelial dysfunction (endothelial cells) and myocardial remodeling/dysfunction (cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts) in these models.