Laura Nicastro, Research Associate

My name is Laura and I came from Italy to the UK to study over 8 years ago.  

I completed my BSc in Pharmacology at King's College London, focusing on cardiac physiology and pharmacology.  

I then went onto a BHF-funded MRes/PhD scholarship at Imperial College London. There, I focused on cardiac contractility mediated by cardiac derived-small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) under different degrees of mechanical preload. I specialised in the development of a unique model called living myocardial slices (LMS), which are ultrathin sections of myocardium that retain the unique properties and characteristics of adult tissue. This furthered my interest in novel strategies to target cardiac dysfunction in heart failure. 

My current post-doctoral position here at the Sinha group is to study the role of talin-dependent mechanical imprinting as driver for cardiac disease progression. My aim is to identify patterns in heart biopsies and recreate them in engineered heart tissues, and to then employ genome manipulation to see the larger-scale implications of their influence in disease.  

Outside of the lab, I am an avid tennis player, traveller and enjoy exploring the UKs countryside. I also volunteer with an outreach group to help those in the homeless community, along with fostering a culture of solidarity.