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 myocyte progenitor cells from mice in order to study the mechanisms that stimulate survival and proliferation of the 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