On Wednesday 1 April 2026 M. Snelders will defend the doctoral thesis titled: Development and Application of an In Vitro System for Cardiac Disease Modeling and High-Throughput Screening
- Promotor
- Promotor
- Co-promotor
- Co-promotor
- Date
- Wednesday 1 Apr 2026, 15:30 - 17:00
- Type
- PhD defence
- Space
- Professor Andries Querido room
- Building
- Education Center
- Location
- Erasmus MC
Below is a brief summary of the dissertation:
This research has developed multiple methods to generate heartcells, cardiomyocytes, from stemcells, as well as the analysis of the resulting recordings generated from conventional and fluorescence microscopy. These methods are based on the movement of these contractile cells in the microscope recordings, and extract valuable information regarding contractile speed and force. The methods were used to investigate the effects of two mutations on cardiomyocytes. A mutation in the fibulin-4 gene was known to be involved in poor integrity of the elastin network in the aorta, but in this research we discovered an important role in the heart during cardiac pressure overload. We also examined two mutations in the MYBPC3 gene, an important protein within the contractile mechanism of the cardiomyocyte.
- More information
The public defence will start exactly at 15.30 hrs. The doors will be closed once the public defence starts, latecomers can access the hall via the fourth floor. Given the solemn nature of the meeting, we advise not to bring children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony.
A livestream link has been provided to candidate.
