Immune-cardiac niche interactions across scales

Speaker: Dr Filipa Simões, Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine, University of Oxford
Series: Gurdon Institute Seminar Series

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, largely due to the limited regenerative capacity of the adult human heart. In contrast, the zebrafish heart can regenerate after major injury, offering valuable insight into mechanisms of tissue repair. My group investigates how interactions between the immune system and the cardiac niche, a complex microenvironment comprising endothelial cells, fibroblasts, epicardial cells and cardiomyocytes, shape heart development and regeneration. Using the zebrafish as a regenerative model, we have identified spatially distinct immune-niche interactions that instruct macrophage plasticity and function, informing how fibrosis can be restrained and regeneration promoted. In parallel, we are engineering vascularised, macrophage-containing human cardiac organoids derived from pluripotent stem cells to study immune-cardiac communication in human systems. By integrating single cell and spatial transcriptomics with advanced imaging and organoid modelling, we are defining the regulatory programmes that drive immune cell diversity and niche-dependent communication across species and contexts. These complementary approaches bridge development and regeneration, model organisms and human biology, with the ultimate goal of identifying immune-cardiac interactions that can be targeted to stimulate heart repair in patients.