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Department

Cardiology

Thoraxcenter

The department is involved in teaching, research and treatment of cardiovascular diseases with 5 focus areas: ischemic cardiovascular disease, congenital or acquired structural heart defects, arrhythmias and heart failure.

About our department

Our research

What is the overall aim? 

The mission of the department of Cardiology is to make a significant scientific contribution to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease by 25% over the next 5-10 years. We aim to achieve this by performing translational research, clinical studies and population-based research in close collaboration with (inter)national partners and patient advocacy groups focusing on the key areas ischemic cardiovascular disease, congenital or acquired structural heart disease and as final common pathways arrhythmias and heart failure.

What are the focus areas of your research? (examples)

The department of Cardiology performs translational research, clinical studies, and population-based research in close collaboration with (inter)national partners and patient advocacy groups on 5 key areas: Ischemic cardiovascular disease, congenital or acquired structural heart defects, arrhythmias and heart failure.

Principal Investigators

  • Prof.dr. Felix Zijlstra - Head of the department
  • Dr. Daphne Merkus
  • Dr. Heleen van Beusekom
  • Dr. Caroline Cheng
  • Dr. Tamas Szili Torok
  • Dr. Sing-Chien Yap
  • Prof.dr. Eric Boersma
  • Dr. Isabella Kardys
  • Dr. Martijn Akkerhuis
  • Dr. Annemien van der Bosch
  • Dr. Olivier Manintveld
  • Dr. Michelle Michels
  • Dr. Jasper Brugts
  • Prof.dr. Nicolas van Mieghem
  • Prof.dr. Peter de Jaegere
  • Dr. Joost Daemen
  • Prof.dr. Nico de Jong
  • Dr.ir. Hans Bosch
  • Dr. Ali Akyildiz

Research lines

The department of Cardiology has 7 research groups which are all focused on 1 or more of the 5 key areas and are highly interconnected.

  1. Experimental Cardiology - PI Prof.dr. Dirk Jan Duncker
  2. Electrophysiology - PI Prof.dr. Natasja de Groot
  3. Cardiovascular Epidemiology - Prof.dr. Eric Boersma
  4. Congenital Cardiology - Prof.dr. Jolien Roos-Hesselink
  5. Intervention Cardiology - Prof.dr. Nicolas van Mieghem
  6. Heart Failure - PI to be appointed
  7. Biomedical Engineering - Prof.dr. Ton van der Steen

Adult Congenital Heart Disease

Research on adults with congenital heart disease, aortic pathology, pulmonary hypertension and pregnancy in women with cardiac disease.

Biomechanics Laboratory

At the Biomechanics Laboratory we study the effect of mechanical stresses in the cardiovascular system. Our projects focus on the application of biomechanics to investigate the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease and to predict future disease development and cardiovascular events.

Biomedical Engineering

At the crossroads of physics, technology, biology and medicine, we develop technology for insights in cardiovascular disease, and to improve its diagnosis and treatment.

Electrophysiology

Our projects focus on experimental, translational and clinical research on diagnosis and therapy of cardiac arrhythmias.

Invasive imaging

We study new technologies for real-time, unambiguous visualization of pathology, devices and treatment effect in minimally invasive (cardiovascular) interventions.

Perioperative care

Perioperative cardiovascular care focus on the identification and modification of possible risk factors related to myocardial injury and infarction.

Therapeutic Ultrasound Contrast Agents

We study the use of ultrasound contrast agents, i.e. microbubbles of 1-10 µm in size, for local drug delivery and ultrasound molecular imaging.

Projects

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AMPHORA – Acoustic markers for enhanced remote sensing of radiation doses

This European ERC-OPEN-FET project is aiming at testing and development of acoustic contrast agents for detection of radiation dosis. The project spans the range from idea, through development of new agents, to in vitro validation and in vivo safety measurements.
Research project default image

Congenital cardiovascular disease

This research project studies the influence of biomechanical stress on the cardiovascular system in the presence of congenital malformations.

FUSION study: Coronary CT with FFRct

This study evaluates the value of adding advanced FFRct assessment to CT scans of coronary arteries.
Seeing the heart attack

Seeing the heart attack (and more) before it happens

I aim to develop new imaging technologies to visualize vulnerable plaques and other disease at early stage.

Facilities

  • a unique experimental intervention room, allowing state of the art cardiovascular intervention studies in human-sized pigs
  • facilities for cardiovascular histopathology and molecular biology research, a scanning electron microscope
  • own biobanking infrastructure within the Triallab of the Clinical Chemistry department
  • a fast framing digital camera for up to 25 Million frames per seconds, which can be linked to a confocal microscope
  • two optical labs, an ultrasound lab, facilities for MALDI imaging and a lab for cell culturing
  • CUBE research facility for functional ultrasound brain imaging

Collaborations

  • Many departments in the Erasmus MC
  • The 16 Cardiovascular ACEs
  • Dutch Cardiovascular Alliance
  • TU Delft 
  • Netherlands Heart Institute

News, events and awards

Events

The department of Cardiology is the driving force behind COEUR  (Cardiovasculaire Onderzoeksschool Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam), the cardiovascular research school of the Erasmus MC. COEUR offers a cardiovascular research education program, consisting of courses, seminars and lectures, see www.coeur.nl.

Additionally, there are monthly research meetings between PI’s and PhD candidates from all cardiovascular ACEs to discuss research developments, common interests and potential joint projects and grant applications. And there is an annual Cardiovascular meeting, for which all departments/ Academic Centers of Excellence (ACEs) within Erasmus MC that are involved in cardiovascular research are invited.

These activities serve as a platform for – and acts to stimulate – collaborations between PI’s, postdocs and PhD candidates within the Erasmus MC. The formation of the ACEs has further stimulated the interaction between the clinical, translational and more basic scientists around specific cardiovascular themes. 

Awards and grants

  • FEHRA, fellow of the European Heart Rhythm Association (NMS de Groot, S Yap)
  • Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics highly cited researcher 2014-2018 (top 1% worldwide) (H Boersma)
  • Erasmus MC Fellowship (NMS de Groot, K Kooiman).
  • NWO VENI (K Kooiman, T Wang, K van der Heiden).
  • NWO VIDI (NMS de Groot, K Kooiman, HJ Vos).
  • NWO VICI (G van Soest).
  • Dutch Heart Foundation Dekker Grant (NMS de Groot, CP Teuwen, K van der Heiden).
  • ERC Starter Grant (K Kooiman, JJ Wentzel)
  • Marie Curie Fellowship (A Akyildiz)
  • LEaDing Fellow (Barrett)
  • ICIN fellowship (K Kooiman)

Education

BSc & MSc students

For bachelor students

Education (lectures, practicals, patient demonstrations) in the general curriculum of the Erasmus MC MD Bachelor programme, including three Minors: Cardiovascular diseases, Congenital heart disease and Lung transplantation.

Development, content and teaching of lectures and practicals in the bachelor course ‘Clinical Technology’ at TU Delft (Medical Delta).

Youth educational programs Mini Med School, Junior Med School and Erasmus University College.

For master students

For master students, we provide education (lectures, practicals, patient demonstrations) in the general curriculum of the Erasmus MC MD Master programme and two Research Masters: Transcatheter Valve Program and Translational Electrophysiology.

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