DeCA LAB

The CARDIAC DEVELOPMENT AND DISEASE laboratory (DeCA lab) performs research on both the basis of cardiac development, and the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie the pathophysiology of different cardiac diseases. We are also interested in understanding the defective morphogenetic mechanisms that lead to congenital heart disease (CHD), to identify new early diagnostic markers for these conditions and to use our knowledge on the genes and molecular signals that orchestrate normal cardiac progenitor differentiation into functional cardiovascular cell types during embryonic development. Another specific focus of our laboratory is the study cardiac fibrosis, a common pathophysiological trait of many adult heart diseases.

The Cardiac Development and Disease Laboratory performs research on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the pathophysiology of both congenital and acquired cardiac diseases. We tackle these mechanisms from the perspectives of cardiac development, including the regulation of the differentiation of cardiac progenitor cells into functional cardiovascular cell types, and the reactivation of all these processes in a pathophysiological environment. Additionally, one of the main focuses of our laboratory is cardiac fibrosis, a common pathophysiological trait of many adult heart diseases. The study of the cellulome in the context of the cardiac fibrosis will allow us to identify potential diagnostic markers to monitor the evolution of different cardiac diseases.