Biosketches keynote speakers:
Frances de Man (Department of Pulmonary Medicine, AUMC)
After completing her PhD at the VUmc in 2010, Frances de Man moved to Paris for a post-doctoral fellowship to investigate cross-talk between endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells of the vasculature. After a year, she returned to the VUmc to start her own research group on right heart failure. Over the years, she obtained several prestigious personal research grants (e.g. VENI, VIDI, Dekker fellowship) and consortium grants (e.g. DCVA grant). Very recently, she obtained a VICI grant to address the role of right ventricular inflammation on cardiac adaptation and a Dutch Heart Foundation Established Investigator grant to study the clinical and molecular significance of right atrial abnormalities in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)-patients. By combining state-of-the-art in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro techniques in patients, animal models and unique RV cardiomyocytes of PAH-patients, Frances aims to find molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets to make the right ventricle more resilient to the increased pressure overload, as is the case in PAH. Her ultimate goal is to prevent the development of right heart failure and improve the prognosis of PAH patients.