Job description

Associate Professor

Physiology is the science of the body - from basic cell function to the integrated mechanisms of the whole body and how we are influenced by our environment. A deeper understanding of physiology is key for improving health and treating disease. My research has focused on cardiovascular pathophysiology of heart and the interplay between metabolism and mitochondrial biology in relation to cardiac function. The overall aim is to identify underlying mechanisms of heart failure.  

Ongoing projects are related to heart failure risk factors such as metabolic disease and hypertension.  A focus of our research is on the role of the mitochondria, and how impaired mitochondrial mechanisms contribute to pathological changes observed during heart failure.  Mitochondria are the metabolic hub in the cell that regulate cell homeostasis and stress. Therefore their role in myocardial energy metabolism, redox regulation, cellular stress response and cardiac calcium homoestasis are of major interest.  

We use a translational approach in our studies through physiological and cellular study of the heart. Some examples include:

• isolated organ perfusion
• in vivo imaging
• cellular and molecular imaging

 Keywords:  Mitochondrial adaptations associated with health and disease; cardiac calcium homeostasis, cardiac metabolism, cellular redox signaling; pathophysiology of heart failure.

My education:

• 2017-2018: Post-doctoral fellow, in the laboratory of Professor Mary-Ellen Harper, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Canada
• 2011: PhD in Cardiovascular Physiology, in the laboratory of Professor Ellen Aasum, Dept. Medical Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT 
• 2006: MSc in Cardiovascular Physiology, in the laboratory of Anne K. Jonassen, Dept. Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen
• 2004: BSc in Exercise Science (Specialization: Clinical Exercise Physiology), Faculty of Science, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada