Research in my laboratory is focusing on understanding the molecular aspects of cardiac remodelling and heart regeneration. My research is currently supported mainly by programme and project grants from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) as well as research grants from Medical Research Council (MRC) and Heart Research UK (HRUK). Please see Research and Projects for details.

I teach postgraduate (Master) and undergraduate students (MBChB and BSc Biological sciences) and supervise postgraduate research students (PhD). I review manuscripts and grants for international journals and funding bodies, respectively and also an Editorial Board member for several journals.

I graduated from the School of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia in 1996. I then worked as Research Assistant at the Eijkman Institute Indonesia under the supervision of Prof Sangkot Marzuki. I went to the University of Queensland in 1998 and completed my PhD in 2001 under the guidance of Professors Brandon Wainwright and David Hume. I did a short post-doctoral study in the Institute of Molecular Bioscience, Queensland before joining the laboratory of Prof Ludwig Neyses in Manchester in 2002. I have been awarded the British Heart Foundation Intermediate Fellowship in 2009 and was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Cardiovascular Medicine in 2015 before promoted to Reader.

Major Awards and Prizes:

• British Heart Foundation Intermediate Fellowship (2010)
• European Society of Cardiology Young Investigator Award 1st Winner (2006)
• Australian Society for Medical Research, AMP Queensland Biomedical Research Award, 1st Prize Pre-doctoral category (2001)
• University of Queensland International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (1998)

British Heart Foundation Project Grant Committee Panel Member (2015 - 2019)

Editorial Board Member, Nature Scientific Reports

British Society of Cardiovascular Research

Heart Failure Association of the ESC

European Society of Cardiology Working Group of Cellular Biology of the Heart

MD, School of Medicine, University of Airlangga, Indonesia

PGDipSc in Molecular Biology, University of Queensland, Australia

PhD in Molecular Genetics, University of Queensland, Australia

1. MBChB Programme:

- Year 1 MBChB: PBL tutor (semester 1 module)

- Year 1 & 2 MBChB: academic advisor and tutor for professional and personal development (TPPD) and tutor for personal excellence path (PEP).

- Year 3: APEP supervisor

2. BSc in Biomedical Science

- Year 3: tutor for Year 3 final year project

- Year 2 dissertation supervisor

3. MRes in Cardiovascular Sciences

- Tutor for literature review and project proposal writing

- Supervisor for final research project

- Tutorial Course Unit

- Principal of CVHD lecture

4. MSc in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

- Tutor for literature review and project proposal writing

- Supervisor for final research project

1) Role of the Hippo signalling pathway in cardiac regeneration and cell reprogramming

My group is interested in investigating novel modulators of the Hippo signalling pathway which are important in cell replication and repair. We modulates Hippo pathway to induce cardiomyocyte regeneration and to improve induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)-based cell replacement therapy.

2) The regulatory role of tumour suppressor molecules during cardiac hypertrophy, remodelling and failure

We are also interested in investigating the role of tumour suppressors and oncogenes during cardiac growth. We are focusing on the tumour suppressors and oncogenes related to the Hippo signalling pathway in regulating cardiac hypertrophy.

3 )Local calcium signalling in the heart regulated by sarcolemmal calcium pump
I am also interested in studying how calcium microdomain governs the molecular signaling pathway. We are particularly interested in studying calcium signals regulated by the plasma membrane calcium pump (PMCA)

Research Grants awarded

1) As Principal Investigator:

British Heart Foundation Programme Grant (RG/F/21/11055)(£728K, 2022-2027)

Heart Research UK Translational Research Project Grant (RG2696/21/23)(£151K, 2022 -2024)

British Heart Foundation Project Grant (PG/18/40/33767)(£160K, 2018-2020).

British Heart Foundation Project Grant (PG/17/78/33304)(£221K. 2018-2021).

MRC Research Grant (MR/P015816/1)(£276K. 2017-2020)

British Heart Foundation Project Grant (PG/16/77/32400)(£135K, 2016-2018)

British Heart Foundation Project Grant (PG/13/12/30017)(£202K, 2013-2016)

British Heart Foundation Basic Science Intermediate Fellowship (FS/09/046/28043)
(£546K, 2010-2015)

British Heart Foundation Project Grant (PG/11/23/28801)(£62,200, 2011-2014).

2) As Co-Investigator:

British Heart Foundation Programme Grant (RG/18/2/33392, £1.3M 2018-2023).

BHF Project Grant (PG/14/24/30626)(£22K,2014-2017).

BRC George Lancashire Award (£45,900, 2011-2014).

British Heart Foundation Project Grant (PG/05/082) (£149,408, 2005-2008).

Lab Member:

• Efta Triastuti (Post-doc)
• Ryan Potter (BHF PhD Student)
• Bayu Lestari (PhD Student)
• Cecilia Facchi (BHF PhD Student)
• Pia Morales Araya (PhD Student)

Collaborators:

• Prof Ludwig Neyses (Manchester)
• Prof Gerd Pfeifer (Duarte, California)
• Prof Dae-Sik Lim (KAIST, Daejon, Korea)
• Dr Angel Armesilla (Wolverhampton)
• Prof Simon Ray (Wythenshawe Hospital)
• Dr Elizabeth Cartwright (Manchester)
• Dr Xin Wang (Manchester)
• Dr Mamas Mamas (Manchester)
• Dr Leyuan Liu (Houston, Texas)
• Dr Alberto Saiani (Manchester)
• Dr Tamer Mohamed (Louiseville)
• Dr Kevin Couper (Manchester)
• Prof Syafruddin (Eijkman Institute, Indonesia)

Transgenesis and knock out models

In vivo cardiac physiology: echocardiography, invasive haemodynamics

Disease models: transverse aortic constriction, mini pump implantation

Cellular models: primary cardiomyocyte culture, adult cardiomyocyte

Molecular and cellular biology techniques

Adenoviral gene transfer system

Gene silencing using RNAi system

Stem cell technology and cell reprogramming