Institute for Surgical Research, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet

Current research focus

Major focus is on projects investigating the mechanisms of cardioprotection from ischemia-reperfusion injury and on the capacity of myocardial tissue to regenerate. As to the latter issue, I am preparing and propagating cardiac stem cells, progenitor cells and cardiospheres from mice in order to study the mechanisms that stimulate survival and proliferation of the cardiac progenitor cells.

Research projects

Project manager

• Identification and characterization of factors that stimulate proliferation and survival of cardiac stem cells
• Mechanisms of cardioprotection
• Identification of factors that stimulate survival and proliferation of cardiac progenitor cells.

Collaborator

• Functions of myocardial CTGF in the postnatal heart – signalling pathways, delineation of CTGF-induced gene expression programs and role in cell proliferation, differentiation and cell death